Trump Strikes Drug Price Deal With AstraZeneca
A second brand drug maker has struck a deal with President Donald Trump on lowering drug prices. AstaZeneca agreed to terms similar to Pfizer with a few additions.
The agreement provides that all drugs in Medicaid are subject to most-favored-nation pricing. As well, AstraZeneca will offer medicines at a deep discount off the list price when selling directly to American patients. The drugs will appear like Pfizer’s on the new TrumpRx website.
Three items are not seen in the Pfizer deal. AstraZeneca agrees that MFN will apply to future innovator drugs introduced. AstraZeneca will repatriate increased foreign revenue on existing products that AstraZeneca realizes. And the company will invest $50 billion in U.S. manufacturing and research and development.
The deal will exempt AstraZeneca from the 100% tariffs the Trump administration wants to impose on brand drugs.
In a blog this week, I questioned whether this was true drug price reform because the lower prices do not seem to apply to Medicare or employer/commercial pricing. That is how I viewed the Pfizer. Here, the same applies except for the commitment to applying MFN to future drugs. It is very unclear. Does MFN apply to the Medicaid and self-pay commitment or broadly to all pricing? If MFN is broadly applied by AstraZeneca, that is material progress on the Pfizer deal. But it still is not MFN throughout the entire healthcare system as desired.
Additional article: https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/pharmacy/trump-strikes-drug-pricing-deal-with-astrazeneca/
#drugpricing #mfn #irp #branddrugmakers
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5550375-astrazeneca-trump-mfn-policy
More Medicare Advantage Star News
More articles have come out since the announcement yesterday of Star ratings in Medicare Advantage (MA) for 2026. I have synthesized the major items from these articles into the newsfeed post I wrote yesterday.
Despite the government shutdown, the Star Year 2026 Ratings data tables are out, but I have not yet seen the all-important Fact Sheet.
The three-year downturn in Star ratings appears to have ended, but SY 2026 was relatively flat to SY 2025. Little progress overall. There is a lot of evidence that performance is flat.
- The average contract Star rating moved from 3.63 in SY 2025 to 3.65 in SY 2026.
- The enrollment-weighted average Star rating moved from an announced 3.92 in SY 2025 to 3.98 in SY 2026. The 2025 enrollment-weighted average has grown to 3.96.
- Of the 481 MA contracts rated in both SY 2025 and SY 2026, about 29% (140) of contracts saw ratings drop a half a Star or more, 26% (125) of contracts saw ratings increase a half a Star or more, and about 45% (216) stayed the same.
- The number of contracts at 4 and greater is about the same at just over 200 (209 in 2025 and 207 in 2026) or just over 40%. Enrollment in 4 Star and greater will go from 62% announced in 2025 to 64% in 2026. The enrollment in 4-plus plans is really about flat as the 2025 4-Star and greater enrollment grew to about 64%.
- As in the past there was volatility among the high performers. From SY 2025 to SY 2026, there were 36 new contract entrants to the exclusive category of 4.5 and 5 (91 contracts), while 38 contracts dropped out. Of those in the club before, 7 went up and 5 down.
- While we saw little rise in Star overall, is it possible that the impact of disaster designation stopped some contracts from dropping? And what might be the impact in SY 2027 if disaster designations go down?
What happened with the big MA players?
- UnitedHealthcare 4-Star plus enrollment went up from 71% to 78%.
- Humana 4-Star plus enrollment went down from 25% to 20%.
- Aetna 4-Star plus enrollment went down from 89% to 81%.
- Elevance Health 4-Star plus enrollment went up from 40% to 45%.
- Kaiser maintained 100% enrollment in 4-Star plus plans.
- Centene saw its 4-Star plus enrollment go up from about 1% to 19%.
- Mutual BigBlue HCSC (which bought most of its business from Cigna this year) saw its 4-Star plus enrollment go down from 60% to 47%.
- On the Insurtech side, Devoted and Alignment continued to do well. Clover Health, though, saw its largest contract dip below 4 Star. That contract has 97% of its members.
In general, the big plans remain in the Star doldrums compared with past performance.
In other news, Humana will remove all of its standalone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans (PDPs) from enrollment portals for brokers and other third-party marketers on Nov. 9. Many plans have made moves to limit or eliminate commissions in MA and PDP.
Additional articles: https://www.beckerspayer.com/payer/medicare-advantage/18-5-star-medicare-advantage-plans-2026/ and https://www.beckerspayer.com/payer/medicare-advantage/23-medicare-advantage-plans-rated-below-3-stars-2026/ and https://www.beckerspayer.com/payer/medicare-advantage/cms-posts-2026-medicare-advantage-star-ratings-8-notes/ and https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/regulatory/2026-ma-star-ratings-aetna-humana-see-score-decline-unitedhealthcare-improves and https://www.modernhealthcare.com/insurance/mh-humana-medicare-part-d-plans-brokers/
(Some articles may require a subscription.)
#cms #medicareadvantage #stars #quality
https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/2026-medicare-advantage-star-ratings-winners-losers/802572
Layoffs Begin Due To Government Shutdown
Many healthcare employees began receiving layoff notices as the government shutdown continues. President Trump is saying that some of these reductions in force could be permanent layoffs due to bloated bureaucracy. As an example, Trump officials say the Biden administration grew the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by 38% from a budget perspective and its workforce by 17%. The agency has 79K workers and at least 32K were furloughed.
In other news, rumors that Democrats and Republicans could be negotiating a tweaked Exchange subsidy enhancement extension with an income cap. A cap could come in many forms. Healthcare policy group KFF does a good job outlining the possibilities and impacts to what would be paid in premiums by some Americans.
Additional articles: https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/white-house-to-begin-hhs-layoffs-amid-shutdown/ and https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5550505-trump-administration-layoffs-shutdown/ and https://www.kff.org/quick-take/what-an-income-cap-could-mean-for-aca-enrollees-and-the-federal-budget/
#governmentshutdown #congress #trump #healthcare #coverage #layoffs #hhs #cms #exchanges
https://www.modernhealthcare.com/politics-regulation/mh-hhs-rif-layoffs-government-shutdown
— Marc S. Ryan
