Voters — Including Republicans — Support Giving Medicare the Power to Negotiate Lower Drug Prices
By Lew Blank
Americans pay more than three times as much as other comparable countries for the same brand-name prescription drugs. This is largely because pharmaceutical companies boost their profits by aggressively raising drug prices, sometimes by 10 times the rate of inflation. Skyrocketing drug prices have devastating effects for millions of Americans, with nearly 1 in 3 reporting that they have skipped taking their medicine in the past year due to cost.
When President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was given the power to directly negotiate prices with drug companies for certain brand-name drugs that are covered under Medicare Part D and don’t have generic competitors. Last week, the Biden administration announced the first 10 prescription drugs selected for Medicare drug price negotiations, which will occur over the next year and take effect beginning in 2026. These drugs, which treat conditions like diabetes, heart failure, and cancer, cost U.S. seniors more than $3 billion out of pocket last year.
In a new survey conducted in the days following the announcement, Data for Progress finds that voters across party lines overwhelmingly support (84%) the Biden administration’s decision to empower Medicare to negotiate lower prices for 10 prescription drugs. This includes 92% of Democrats, 81% of Independents, and 75% of Republicans.
This finding mirrors a separate Data for Progress survey in late August, which found that 90% of voters support giving Medicare more power to negotiate lower prices for all prescription drugs. Notably, support for this announcement is overwhelmingly bipartisan, even when “the Biden administration” was explicitly mentioned as responsible in this survey’s wording.
Voters don’t want Biden to stop at just 10 prescription drugs: A strong majority (87%) want the U.S. government to expand the number of prescription drugs for which Medicare is allowed to negotiate prices.
Later in our survey, we tested if support for Medicare drug price negotiation stays strong when voters are presented with oppositional messaging. Respondents were shown an argument in favor of drug price negotiation — that Americans should not be forced to pay more than other developed nations for life-saving drugs — and an argument opposed to drug price negotiation — that price negotiation could hinder advancements in medicine.
After seeing messaging from both sides, voters still overwhelmingly support giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices. This includes 90% of Democrats, 81% of Independents, and 77% of Republicans.
While polling on most policy issues remains largely divided by partisanship, lowering prescription drug costs, and specifically empowering Medicare to negotiate those lower costs, continues to poll remarkably well across party lines.
Lew Blank (@LewBlank) is a polling analyst at Data for Progress.