Today we are hoping to make sense of the Inflation Reduction Act which is designed to protect Medicare recipients from catastrophic drug costs by phasing in a cap for out-of-pocket costs and establishing a$35 cap for a month's supply of insulin. And, as an historic win, Medicare will be able to negotiate prices for high-cost drugs for the first time ever.

Guests: 

Mark Blum 

Mark is the Executive Director of America's Agenda, an organization he’s led since its founding in 2005. America's Agenda is a national healthcare alliance that brings together labor unions, businesses, healthcare providers, and policymakers who share a common commitment to smart policy and effective action to advance our mission of affordable, high-quality, readily accessible healthcare for every American. Mark currently serves on the State Health Benefits Value and is a former member of the Quality Task Force in New Jersey and previously worked as an economics professor as well as national director of organizing for the American Association of University Professors. He completed his graduate studies at the London School of Economics.

 

A major focus for Mark in recent years has been the Pharmacy Benefit Manager issues facing our country. Mark is a founding member of the PBM Accountability Project. He works tirelessly to educate the public and advance solutions to help redirect prescription drug savings from very high PBM profits back to patients, employee health plans, and taxpayers.

Antonio Ciaccia

Antonio Ciaccia (cha-cha) is the President of 3 Axis Advisors, a firm that among many things studies drug pricing. He was recently featured on NBC’s Today Show talking about the lengths PBMs force independent pharmacies to go to find savings for their patients. He’s also spoken publicly about PBMs in the context of the Inflation Reduction Act. Antonio has been in and around pharmacies his entire life. A graduate from The Ohio State University in 2007 with dual degrees in communications and political science. For six years he headed up government affairs for the Ohio Pharmacists Association. After years of studying the pharmacy marketplace, Antonio became increasingly perplexed and concerned as he saw drug costs spiking while payouts to pharmacies were declining. Knowing something was being lost somewhere in the middle of an ever-growing transaction, Antonio has spent years working to crack the drug pricing code and pull the rug out from what he believes is one of the most dysfunctional marketplaces in the world.

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