Apr
21
The National Hispanic Health Foundation (NHHF) commends the Administration for taking meaningful action to address a critical flaw in prescription drug policy that disproportionately affects Latino patients: the so-called “pill penalty.” Latino communities rely heavily on small-molecule drugs—affordable, oral medications used to manage common chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. Unfortunately, under the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare is authorized to begin price negotiations for these drugs just nine years after FDA approval, while biologics—often more expensive and less accessible—are shielded from negotiation for 13 years. This inequity skews incentives, pushing pharmaceutical investment toward biologics and away from the medications that serve broader, more diverse patient populations. We support the Trump Administration’s Executive Order calling on Congress to correct this imbalance by aligning the treatment of small-molecule drugs with biologics. The proposed fix, such as that offered in the bipartisan EPIC Act, would protect innovation that serves everyday patients and help ensure that cost-saving policies don’t come at the expense of equitable care. NHHF urges Congress to swiftly include the EPIC Act in the upcoming reconciliation bill to eliminate this disparity once and for all, and to build a drug pricing system rooted in both fiscal responsibility and health equity.