From the New York Times, I'm Serena Tavernisi, and this is The Daily.

A year ago, Congress overhauled the way drugs for older Americans get paid for

by giving Medicare the power to bargain with drug makers over prices.

It was the biggest change in healthcare in more than a decade.

This week the Biden administration began to implement it.

My colleagues Cheryl Stolberg on the decades-long battle to get that power,

and Rebecca Robbins on its potential to reshape the business of drugs in America.

It's Thursday, August 31st.

So Cheryl, there's a very big change underway with Medicare.

Which is of course the government health insurance program for older Americans.

And I immediately thought of you, my former DC colleague, and long-time healthcare policy reporter.

Tell me what's going on.

So the administration announced its plans to have Medicare negotiate directly with drug makers

for the first time ever over the price of medicines to basically bargain them down.

So it's going to start kind of small.

The White House announced 10 drugs.

These are drugs for diabetes and stroke and heart disease and arthritis and cancer.

Whose prices will be subject to Medicare negotiations.

It's really a paradigm shift, and it opens the door toward more and more drugs being subject to price negotiations.

And it's a huge deal.

It's the biggest change to the healthcare system in this country since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

And what's the goal here?

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