Andy Asaro
10-26-2018, 08:25 AM
https://twitter.com/racetrackandy/status/1055797027995443200
Excerpt:
The strategy concentrates on drugs administered by doctors — mainly the newer, very expensive biologic drugs that treat cancer and chronic conditions such as arthritis and macular degeneration. Medicare’s prices for these drugs are nearly double the average paid in Europe, Japan and Canada. To close the gap, the Trump administration would benchmark Medicare payments to the average foreign price.
Trump blames America’s higher prices on “freeloading” foreign countries. “For decades other countries have rigged the system so that American patients are charged much more — and in some cases much, much more — for the exact same drug,” he said in announcing the plan on Thursday. He’s right — except that it’s the U.S. that has done the rigging, by arranging things so that the anomaly of high U.S. prices can continue.
Excerpt:
The strategy concentrates on drugs administered by doctors — mainly the newer, very expensive biologic drugs that treat cancer and chronic conditions such as arthritis and macular degeneration. Medicare’s prices for these drugs are nearly double the average paid in Europe, Japan and Canada. To close the gap, the Trump administration would benchmark Medicare payments to the average foreign price.
Trump blames America’s higher prices on “freeloading” foreign countries. “For decades other countries have rigged the system so that American patients are charged much more — and in some cases much, much more — for the exact same drug,” he said in announcing the plan on Thursday. He’s right — except that it’s the U.S. that has done the rigging, by arranging things so that the anomaly of high U.S. prices can continue.