How much could Medicare save in drug costs?

Austin Frakt

February 28, 2012

Oh, oh, call on me! Call on me!!!

In her first question at her first budget committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) asked the Medicare actuary how much the federal government could save if Medicare could use its market clout to negotiate lower drug prices, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs does. [via Julian Pecquet]

The answer ($510 per beneficiary per year) is in one of my recent papers with Steve Pizer and Roger Feldman.

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Austin Frakt

Austin Frakt, PhD, is co-Editor-in-Chief of The Incidental Economist. His day job is Associate Director of the Partnered Evidence-based Policy Resource Center at the Boston VA Healthcare System, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He is also a Professor with the Department of Health Law, Policy and Management at the Boston University’s School of Public Health, a Principal Research Scientist with the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Health Services Research.

How much could Medicare save in drug costs?

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Austin Frakt

The Incidental Economist

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