A major development in the fight against prescription drug costs

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While much of the oxygen in the US political conversation is sucked up by former President Donald Trump’s forthcoming trials, there is other news to report.

What could in hindsight be a milestone moment occurred Tuesday in Washington when the government announced the first 10 prescription drugs for which Medicare will negotiate prices.

Driving down the cost of prescription drugs has been a priority of every recent president and using Medicare’s considerable power to achieve savings has more specifically been the goal of Democrats.

This new power will take time to implement and must still survive multiple court challenges by pharmaceutical companies.

But it is a development that could ultimately affect every American who enrolls in Medicare’s prescription drug benefit.

According to CNN’s Tami Luhby, the first 10 drugs subject to these negotiations are: Eliquis, Jardiance, Xarelto, Januvia, Farxiga, Entresto, Enbrel, Imbruvica and Stelara, as well as Fiasp and certain other insulins made by Novo Nordisk, including NovoLog.

The medications treat heart disease, certain cancers, diabetes and autoimmune diseases, among other conditions.

These drugs cost Medicare enrollees big money – $3.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs last year. The enrollees who didn’t receive additional financial assistance shelled out as much as $6,500 on average, according to Luhby’s report. But she also notes that these drugs “accounted for $50.5 billion, or about 20%, in total Part D gross covered prescription drug costs” over the past year.

I talked to Luhby by email to learn more about how this new negotiating power came about, how it has eluded multiple recent presidents and what we know about how it will…