Group of medical associations file suit saying price setting provisions in Inflation Reduction Act are ‘unconstitutional’

A group of medical associations filed a suit in Texas Wednesday alleging that the price setting provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act are unconstitutional. The suit was brought by the National Infusion Center Association (NICA), the Global Colon Cancer Association (GCCA) and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. The statute “includes no requirement for checks and balances through public feedback and cuts off administrative and judicial review, violating the Constitution’s separation of power and due process clauses,” the groups said. And an “extreme excise “tax” to force manufacturer compliance with the government mandated price “is disproportionate to the purported offense making it an excessive fine prohibited by the Eighth Amendment,” they said. NCIA CEO Brian Nyquist said that his organization favors lower costs for patients, but noted that infusion providers have no control over the price of medications they administer. “he government price setting provisions in the IRA may inadvertently set reimbursement below acquisition cost, exacerbating existing consolidation trends and reducing our nation’s community-based infusion capacity,” Nyquist said in a statement. “This would leave patients with the hospital as their only option – which is by far the most expensive setting.”