David Joyce & RFK Jr. Slam Biden Administration Over 'Decline' In Reimbursements To Physicians

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During a House Energy Committee hearing last week, Rep. David Joyce (R-OH) asked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the Biden Administration's policies on Medicare Part B.

Transcript

00:00I now recognize the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Dr. Joyce.

00:04Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Secretary Kennedy, for being here.

00:09Thank you for your commitment to serving our country. I appreciate your recent

00:15commitments to unlocking American science that we know will lead to additional breakthroughs.

00:21The Orphan Drug Act, which was passed the year that I graduated from medical school,

00:26has been a huge incentive driving innovation and delivering new cures and new treatments to

00:33American patients. Unfortunately, the Inflation Reduction Act has reduced incentives for innovators

00:40to conduct this critical research, particularly for orphan products that treat rare diseases and

00:47ultra-rare diseases. A recent NPC report has shown that since the IRA's enactment, clinical development

00:55for orphan drugs that received multiple designations went down by nearly 50 percent. My legislation,

01:02the Orphan Cures Act, would address this flawed incentive in the law and let American innovators

01:09return to pursuing breakthroughs in rare diseases. I'm proud that this bill was included in the big,

01:16beautiful bill currently being considered in the Senate. Secretary Kennedy, will you commit to working

01:22with me and the committee to ensure incentives for innovators are put in place to pursue gold

01:28standard science for rare disease treatments and for their cures?

01:34Yes, Congressman Joyce, and I want to thank you for your leadership on this issue. It's a critical area. As you

01:41said, the Biden administration and the Inflation Reduction Act inserted regulatory impediments to make it,

01:49to disincentivize the developments of these kinds of treatments. With your help, we've developed a

01:55repair, a fix for that, and the big, beautiful bill, and I look forward to working with you on getting

02:02that passed. Thank you, Secretary Kennedy. In 2022, when the IRA was passed, it included a narrow orphan

02:09drug exclusion protecting these drugs from government price-setting scheme. Unfortunately, CMS misapplied the

02:17timing for price-setting eligibility, starting the timeframe from its initial orphan approval date,

02:23rather from the day that it is no longer exempt. And in this case, timing is indeed everything.

02:30A plain text reading of the statute shows CMS was wrong, and the Biden administration refused to fix

02:37their mistake. Secretary Kennedy, will you commit today to work with CMS to correctly apply the timing of

02:45a drug's price-setting eligibility so that this provision does not negatively impact innovation

02:52and in turn negatively impact American patients? I look forward to working with you on that,

02:57Congressman. Thank you. We look forward to working with you as well. Secretary Kennedy,

03:02to switch to another topic. Under the Biden administration, we saw a consistent decline in

03:07the reimbursements paid to physicians under Medicare Part B. These cuts have led to more

03:13practice consolidation and increased hospital and insurer ownership of doctors. In turn, this has

03:20negatively impacted access to care for our nation's senior citizens and driven up out-of-pocket costs.

03:28How do you view these concerns, and will you commit to working with me and other physicians in Congress

03:33on how we can fix this erosion of reimbursement and strengthen the private practice overall?

03:40Yeah, I mean, that's only one of the perverse incentives in our system that are contributing to

03:47the crisis in primary care. And one of the specific charges that President Trump has given me is to

03:58increase primary care access. And one of the ways that we need to do that is to make sure that primary

04:06care physicians are getting livable wages. And I look forward to working with you on that.

04:15In America right now, the primary care physician is underpaid and undervalued. Your commitment to

04:22making sure that these doctors, who are the frontline caring for patients day in and day out,

04:28are adequately compensated is important, not just to American medicine, but ultimately important to

04:35the American patient. I thank you for that commitment. Mr. Chairman, my time has expired and I yield back.

04:41The gentleman yields the-

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