SMART Prices Act

Key Points

• The bill would dramatically increase the number of drugs Medicare can negotiate prices for each year, jumping from 15 to 50 drugs starting in 2028. This means far more medications could see lower prices for seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare.
• Medicare could begin negotiating drug prices much sooner after a drug hits the market. The current waiting period of 7 years for small-molecule drugs and 11 years for biologics would both be shortened to just 3 years.
• The bill lowers the maximum price Medicare would pay for negotiated drugs. For drugs on the market longer, the price caps drop more steeply, with the deepest discount going from 40% to 30% of the original price for the longest-marketed drugs.
• The bill builds on the Inflation Reduction Act's existing Medicare drug price negotiation framework, which was the first time the federal government gained the power to negotiate drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies.
• All of the proposed changes would take effect starting with the 2028 price applicability year, giving the government and drug companies time to prepare for the expanded negotiation process.