Summary:
U.S. pays higher drug prices, gets priority access
Medicare's negotiated prices most significant for drugs with little competition
Goal is to balance affordability and innovation
Sept 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. government's first-ever negotiated prices for prescription drugs are still on average more than double, and in some cases five times, what drugmakers have agreed to in four other high-income countries, a Reuters review has found.
The U.S. Medicare health plan, which covers more than 67 million people, recently unveiled new maximum prices, for the first 10 high-cost medicines negotiated under the Biden Administration's Inflation Reduction Act.
This is the first time Medicare has disclosed actual drug prices, which are largely hidden behind a complicated U.S. system of rebates and discounts. The lower prices will result in savings of $6 billion in 2026, the first year they take effect, Medicare said.
A Reuters review of publicly available maximum prices set by other wealthy nations - Australia, Japan, Canada and Sweden - show that they have negotiated far lower prices for the same drugs.
A 30-day supply of nine of the 10 drugs will cost $17,581 for Medicare in 2026, compared with $6,725 in Sweden this year. Comparable prices were not available for the 10th drug, Novo Nordisk's (NOVOb.CO), insulin Novolog.
"In the U.S. we've always accepted that we are the country that overpays relative to the rest of the world," said Stacie Dusetzina, professor of health policy at Nashville's Vanderbilt University.
The U.S. sees value in being the preferred customer, she said, pointing to early availability of COVID vaccines as an example of that advantage.
Many countries have universal prescription drug coverage that relies on centralized price negotiation with manufacturers, but U.S. law previously prevented Medicare - the nation's single biggest government program - from doing so.
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