Posted on 03/27/2023 2:42:16 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell wasn’t the only one in the hot seat in Washington on Wednesday. Stephane Bancel, CEO of pharmaceutical company Moderna, was up on the Hill to testify in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
Members of Congress experienced severe sticker shock and were none too happy about the company’s recent announcement that it’s going to charge about $130 a shot for its COVID-19 vaccine after the national health emergency ends in May.
During the hearing, Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, highlighted billions of dollars the U.S. government spent to help develop and roll out Moderna’s extremely profitable mRNA-based vaccine.
“This vaccine would not exist without [the National Institutes of Health’s] partnership and expertise and the substantial investment of the taxpayers of this country,” Sanders said.
The $130 refers to the list price of the vaccine, which is something of a starting point for negotiations, according to Richard Hughes, a partner at the law firm Epstein Becker Green. He was a Moderna executive until about a year ago.
Sign up for the daily Marketplace newsletter to make sense of the most important business and economic news.
“No American who is not a health insurance company is going to see a $130 price tag for this vaccine,” he said, adding that government or private insurance will still cover the cost for most people.
“The government will continue to receive a very low price. And companies do negotiate discounts with payers,” he said.
Even so, when insurers pay more, so do their customers and taxpayer-funded programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Andrea Ducas, a senior program officer with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said plenty of others are affected too.
“There’s still about 30 million people who don’t have health insurance,” she said. “And for those folks, they would be … unless there’s a patient assistance program, expected to pay out of pocket.”
Moderna’s Bancel said Wednesday that the company would ensure that anyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get one without cost being a barrier.
Additional reporting by Trina Mannino.
When the “national emergency” ends, I wonder if the hospitals will get reimbursed their thousands of dollars from the government for treating Covid victims?
What is the real creator’s cut?
Can I assume BigPharma’s favorite BigGuy, Trump, gets 10%?
I think that’s the government price.
Yeah, Congress is pretending to be unhappy about it. Behind the scenes they’re all buying more Moderna stock.
How can they offer it for sale. It’s not an FDA approved vaccine. As such it can’t be sold, it can only be mandated by the FEDGOV.
The billions that were flowing into the Moderna coffers has slowed to a mere trickle of millions...and now must boost the price of the jab.
Moderna stock is to the moon already.
This was announced in late Dec or early Jan—
Why the surprise now???
Family of 4==$520 etc.
Not enough.
They claim it’s approved.
Is there really a market for the covid boosters? Most of the vaccinated people I know regret getting it in the first place and have no intention on getting boosted.
JUST SAY NO !!!!
Collect them all.
So can they now be sued for damages?
No, by U.S. law, no maker of a vaccine can be sued.
Just no Kevin. Hell no.
I don’t care if it’s “free”, I’m not taking the needle.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.