EXCLUSIVE: White House Finalizes Policy to Lower Healthcare Costs

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—President Donald Trump finalized new Medicare policies to lower costs by more than $1 billion next year for seniors, an administration official told the Daily Signal.

“Next year, America’s seniors will save over $1 billion on high-cost drugs, like infusions to treat cancer, and over $2 billion over the next decade on common services such as heart ultrasounds, bone density scans, and chest x-rays,” White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster said Wednesday.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid is finalizing a policy to end intentional Medicare overpayments for outpatient drugs. It is lowering Medicare Part B payment rates for drugs administered in hospital outpatient departments to ensure discounts received by hospitals through the 340B program are passed along to Medicare and Medicare patients.

In 2027, the average impacted senior will save $900 on co-pays for outpatient drugs administered in 340B hospitals. Seniors will pay $1.1 billion less on high-cost drugs because of the change.

“This action lowers premiums and eliminates bad incentives that have driven up prices, building on President Trump’s efforts that have already reduced healthcare costs and delivered more than $1 billion in savings through TrumpRx.gov and the Medicare Bridge program,” Schuster said.

Previously, Medicare overpayments created an incentive for independent clinics to be purchased by 340B hospitals, as the clinics would otherwise make much smaller margins on these drugs, an administration official said.

CMS is also lowering hospital outpatient costs for Medicare patients on many routine imaging services to the amounts Medicare would have paid if the services were provided in a lower cost setting. Common services affected by the change include heart ultrasounds, bone density scans, chest x-rays, chest CTs, and head/neck ultrasounds.

Over 10 years, seniors are expected to save $2.4 billion on routine imaging services because Medicare will no longer pay more for these services when they are performed in a hospital instead of a doctor’s office. 

“President Trump will continue fighting every day to make life more affordable for America’s seniors,” the official added.

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