Kaiser Permanente is deeply concerned about the burden high drug prices impose on our members and patients, and on the broader health care system. Affordable access to needed medications is essential to our mission of providing high-quality care and improving the health of the people and communities we serve.

Patients, taxpayers, health care organizations, and drug companies all deserve fair and reasonable solutions. It’s time for a new framework for drug pricing that more effectively rewards innovation and discoveries, and also provides high-value medicines at prices patients can afford.

We’ve advocated for policies that:

• Address the types of anticompetitive practices that stop lower-priced generic drugs and biosimilar drugs from entering the market
• Curb arbitrary drug price increases, which includes our support for the Inflation Reduction Act’s inflation rebates that require drug companies to pay a rebate when they raise prices faster than inflation
• Require drug companies to disclose publicly how they set the price of expensive new drugs, at or before launch
• Promote the use of evidence-based practices
• Move the U.S. health care system toward assessing and paying for drugs according to their value
• Address drug shortages that threaten access and contribute to higher prices

The market for prescription drugs is complex and dysfunctional. We encourage policymakers to examine the root problems and help us build a competitive, value-based prescription drug market that will be sustainable for years to come.

¹ Reuters, 2025.
² American Journal of Health System Pharmacy, 2026.
³ RAND Corporation, 2024.