Huge Win for Lower Prescription Drug Costs?

[shon46]

The two finalized rules, long in the making, would:

— tie what Medicare pays for medications administered in a doctor's office to the lowest price paid among a group of other economically advanced countries. That's called the “most favored nations” approach. It is adamantly opposed by critics aligned with the pharmaceutical industry, who liken it to socialism. The administration estimates it could save $28 billion over seven years for Medicare recipients through lower copays. It would take effect Jan. 1.

— require drugmakers, for brand name pharmacy medications, to give Medicare enrollees rebates that now go to insurers and middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers. Insurers that deliver Medicare's “Part D” prescription benefit say that would raise premiums. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates it would increase taxpayer costs by $177 billion over 10 years. The Trump administration disputes that and says its rule could potentially result in 30% savings for patients. It would take effect Jan. 1, 2022.

I’m no expert in this area. Thoughts?

 

[Gmoney4WW]

And he(Shon and/or Trump) said he didn't want single payer. Ha, this plan is just going about a single payer type of plan another way. Of course Shon will dispute this, deny this, argue you this, but it is the single payer issue just from another perspective with a few drugs, and other countries involved.

 

[shon46]

And he(Shon and/or Trump) said he didn't want single payer. Ha, this plan is just going about a single payer type of plan another way. Of course Shon will dispute this, deny this, argue you this, but it is the single payer issue just from another perspective with a few drugs, and other countries involved.

If you want to ask my opinion just ask instead of making baseless accusations. I don’t know or fully understand this, hence the reason I asked for thoughts!

 

[Gmoney4WW]

If you want to ask my opinion just ask instead of making baseless accusations. I don’t know or fully understand this, hence the reason I asked for thoughts!

Do you disagree that the arguments for this plan are the same type of arguments for single payer?

 

[shon46]

Do you disagree that the arguments for this plan are the same type of arguments for single payer?

I actually don’t know. That’s why I ask the smart people on the board who are.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

I haven't seen anything on this proposal other than what you have said. So I am just going off your summarization, and yes it does sound like a similar argument for single payer.(if your summary has all the facts in mind, and accurately summarizes the plan.)

Where did you see this plan proposed. I find it odd Trump would support this proposal because it seemingly supports a single payer system. Could the plan be signed off on before Trump goes out of office?

 

[Gmoney4WW]

I looked it up, and this EO was already signed on Sept 13. I can't believe this wasn't publicized very much. I also can't believe the Democrats didn't jump all over it, for the reasons I mentioned earlier. Might never have teeth, but they act like it's just a matter of time before attempts to gain more teeth. It seems to me that supporting this plan is somewhat contradictory to the position against single payer.

 

[shon46]

Whitehouse Press. Since fake media doesn’t cover actual news I’m forced to guess what the hell it actually means. It seems to have the possibility to be really huge news, eliminating the middle man and lowering drug cost but I don’t understand the ins and outs. If it’s helpful, Biden would be almost forced to continue it. Oh by the way, now that vaccinations are on the way, will you get your Trump?

 

[lawpoke87]

Big Pharma money has always prevented (or bribed) our lawmakers from placing cost controls on drug prices. Probably the biggest failure of the ACA along with the reduction of plan options and competition.

 

[URedskin54]

We can do price fixing on drugs tomorrow if we want to. The question is always, how much slower do you want new life saving drugs to be produced to make a few more life saving drugs affordable now? Just like with patent duration it’s not an easy question.

 

[watu04]

This a serious point. I keep hearing this argument and perhaps it's a good one, but I've never seen any data that supports overall high drug prices supports new drug development.

I'm thinking of "Martin Shkreli, then the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, did something considered so reprehensible that he was dubbed “the most hated man in America.” What caused the outrage? He increased the price of a little-known but important drug called Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill." The owners of EPIpen did somewhat the same thing. Hard to see if those profits went into developing new drugs.

Now Eli Lily, Novartis, J&J may have an argument. Consumer Reports has an interesting article discussing this.

 

[URedskin54]

This a serious point. I keep hearing this argument and perhaps it's a good one, but I've never seen any data that supports overall high drug prices supports new drug development.

I'm thinking of "Martin Shkreli, then the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, did something considered so reprehensible that he was dubbed “the most hated man in America.” What caused the outrage? He increased the price of a little-known but important drug called Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill." The owners of EPIpen did somewhat the same thing. Hard to see if those profits went into developing new drugs.

Now Eli Lily, Novartis, J&J may have an argument. Consumer Reports has an interesting article discussing this.

Your anecdotes apply the same way to literally every industry and have nothing to do with the macro concept of price fixing that virtually everyone understands.

 

[watu04]

Your anecdotes apply the same way to literally every industry and have nothing to do with the macro concept of price fixing that virtually everyone understands.

Exactly why I asked if you had data to support your claim. Anecdotal information isn't necessarily bad, but it is what it is. But in the absence of other information it's at least helpful in pointing out issues.

 

[URedskin54]

Exactly why I asked if you had data to support your claim. Anecdotal information isn't necessarily bad, but it is what it is. But in the absence of other information it's at least helpful in pointing out issues.

Nah I'm not going to go looking for data to support widely accepted economic principles. There are studies out there analyzing the impact of cost controls on pharma r&d if you want to find them. I'm sure you can find one somewhere that purports to show a magical land where economic reality can be avoided, but it can't be. Doesn't necessarily mean no controls should be implemented (we have nothing close to a free market anyhow) but tradeoffs need to be acknowledged rather than wished away.