President Trump has repeatedly said that Americans should pay no more than people in other wealthy nations for our drugs. To date, he has not been willing or able to deliver on this. If Trump is sincere, and makes good on his claim, savings in the US would be around $184 billion a year!
A new paper by Yang Ye, Abhishek Pandey, Meagan C. Fitzpatrick and Alison P. Galvani, published in PNAS shows that international reference pricing for prescription drugs at the pharmacy would mean a 62 percent reduction in spending for Medicare alone. It would put Medicare on a path to sustainability. Medicaid would see a 35 percent drop in spending. And, private insurers would see a 51 percent drop in savings, $82.2 billion.
For Americans, out-of-pocket costs would fall by 38.9 percent. People’s prescription drug costs for diabetes, atrial fibrillation and heart failure would drop by more than 75 percent.
International reference pricing for prescription drugs would promote health equity, greater medication adherence and much better health outcomes. Prescription drug costs would be a far smaller obstacle to treatment. People would be better able to manage their chronic conditions.
Today, even a small copay increase for people with Medicare taking multiple medications leads to many not filling their prescriptions and xxx preventable deaths. One NBER study found that a $10.40 increase in a drug’s cost leads more than one in five people with Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage to stop filling their prescriptions altogether.
The majority of people with Medicare do not appreciate the life consequences of not taking their drugs for even a month. In fact, it increases the likelihood that they will die prematurely.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- The deadly consequences of out-of-pocket drug costs
- GAO finds US drug prices more than four times those in France
- 2026: Medicare drug coverage and costs
- Case study: Costco saves one couple hundreds of dollars over Medicare Part D
- Online pharmacies can save you money
