Harris home health care benefit likely funded through Medicare drug negotiations savings
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A potential new benefit for to provide home health care for seniors unveiled by Vice President Kamala Harris would likely be funded through anticipated savings from the existing Medicare drug price negotiation program.
Harris mentioned her plan during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” Tuesday. While the Democratic presidential candidate was scant on details, the idea is to allow Medicare funding for home health aides so families either won’t have to send their loved one to a nursing home or ease the burden on those who have the duty of taking care of a senior at home.
The vice president said the issue was personal to her given she helped take care of her mother who passed away from cancer in 2009.
Given the additional expense of this benefit, Harris intends to expand Medicare drug price negotiations to extract more savings from drugmakers and use those extra funds for the home health program.
An extension of Medicare drug price negotiations, if it were to go through, could have a significant effect on pharma and biotech companies. CMS has already announced the 10 drugs and their negotiated prices effective Jan. 1, 2026. A recent paper outlined what additional drugs may face price talks in 2025.
Drugs from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY), Merck (NYSE:MRK), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), AstraZeneca (AZN), AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV), Novartis (NVS), Amgen (AMGN), and Novo Nordisk (NVO), and Bayer (OTCPK:BAYZF) will have lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries in 2026.
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