Among the many rescissions of Biden administration Executive Orders, signed by President Trump on his administration’s first day, was a rescission of an Executive Order that encouraged Medicare to lower drug costs and makes other changes. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had announced three models in February 2023.
One model would have encouraged Medicare drug plans to offer a copayment for certain inexpensive generic drugs capped at $2/month/drug. Another would have called on state Medicaid agencies to jointly create outcome-based agreements with manufacturers for expensive cell and gene therapies and that model was intended to ensure that states pay a price based on the drug having its desired effect on improving patient health. CMMI is taking applications for the cell and gene therapy model until Feb. 28.
A third model would reduce Medicare funding on drugs cleared by the Food and Drug Administration’s accelerated approval process, which speeds up the approval of medications that fill unmet needs.
In addition, the rescission effected two other policies. First, the rescission ends the extended enrollment period for individuals enrolling in plans offered in the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces. There had been an additional 12 weeks in 36 states. Second, President Trump also rescinded an order aimed providing more outreach funding to states to strengthen Medicaid.
The Biden administration’s accomplishments for Medicare patients, including placing a $35 per month cap on insulin, a $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap on prescription drugs and Medicare’s negotiating drug pricing were included in congressionally passed legislation and cannot explicitly be overturned by an Executive Order. Executive Orders can be used to determine how the executive branch will interpret the law.
