Biden Administration Yields to Legal Pressure, Resumes Drug Price Transparency Enforcement

A pharmacy technician fills prescriptions at Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah, on May 20, 2020. George Frey/AFP via Getty Images

The Biden administration has reversed its stance on the enforcement of Transparency in Coverage (TiC) rules after backing away from a legal battle over the Trump administration regulations.

The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) successfully sued the Biden administration to protect patients’ right to health care transparency.

The re-implemented rules mandate the publication of prescription drug prices by group health plans and insurers, providing crucial pricing information to consumers.

Following FGA’s lawsuit, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and Treasury issued a FAQ document publicly rescinding their previous non-enforcement order, which was deemed contrary to federal law.

The Transparency in Coverage (TiC) rule seeks to provide patients with the information necessary to make informed health decisions.

It promotes free-market solutions through price transparency, aiming to enhance healthcare quality.

FGA’s president and CEO, Tarren Bragdon, lauded the victory in a press release emailed to The Epoch Times, emphasizing its importance for patients and their families.

“When the Biden administration decided to take the side of health insurers and drug manufacturers, FGA decided to take the side of patients and their families. We stood up to the federal behemoth in court, and we won.

“Because of this victory, millions of Americans will have transparent access to the information they need to make informed health care decisions.”

“Washington gridlock can make major policy advancements difficult to come by. But FGA is committed to finding ways to make a positive impact across the country. That’s why we fight, and that’s why winning matters so much,” added Mr. Bragdon.

Background on Legal Battle

“The Biden administration broke the law when they prohibited agencies from enforcing the drug price transparency rule, and they knew it.

“That’s why they caved in response to FGA’s lawsuit by formally reversing their non-enforcement policy on drug price transparency before a federal judge compelled them to do so,” said Stewart Whitson, legal director at FGA.

“Whenever government officials willfully ignore the law, it’s crucial they be held accountable.”

The transparency rule mandates that group health plans and health insurers publish the prices of prescription drugs in order to provide consumers with complete pricing information for medications.

The FGA claimed in its March 23 press release announcing the lawsuit that the three departments had violated the rule by failing to enforce it.

In 2019, the Trump administration announced a regulation to increase Transparency in Coverage for healthcare that was finalized in 2020. The section regarding the transparency of medicine prices was scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2022.

However, the Biden administration issued a FAQ guidance document to halt implementation of the rule; the FGA’s lawsuit asserts that the move skirted the requisite notice-and-comment procedures that must take place before making modifications to an existing regulation.

The pricing transparency regulation was expected to assist in reducing the cost of medical care. The administration’s move reportedly resulted in a lack of mitigation of a significant increase in the cost of more than 1,200 prescription medications during 2021 and 2022.

According to an HHS study released in September 2022, the average price increase for prescription medications was 31.6 percent.

“Some drugs in 2022 increased by more than $20,000, or 500 percent,” according to the study findings.

Bipartisan Support for Transparency

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability demonstrated unusual bipartisanship just weeks after that lawsuit was filed during a May 23 hearing where they jointly voiced concerns about alleged behind-the-scenes deal-making that resulted in higher consumer drug prices.

Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and the committee convened their first hearing on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which manage prescription coverage and prices for insurance, the government, and other large payers.

Mr. Comer and his colleagues believe that PBMs should be held more accountable and transparent in their role as middlemen between drug manufacturers and pharmacies and that the public should have better access to their business and pricing arrangements, contracts, and payments.

Almost two-and-half hours into the hearing, first-term Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) said: “I applaud all my colleagues, which, you know, tend to be a little partisan.

“And so I didn’t know that we could actually agree on much of anything. And so, you know, today has revealed that miracles are still happening in the world.”

The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’s request for comment.