By Cathy Zhang
At the start of the month, Democrats announced a new drug pricing plan, detailed in the House’s Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376). In the immediate short term, the drug pricing plan has enabled the $1.75 trillion bill to go forward through the House. If ultimately enacted, it will generate savings for consumers, some more directly than others, and at a more modest pace and magnitude than many had hoped.
By Ameet Sarpatwari, Beatrice Brown, Neeraj Patel, and Aaron S. Kesselheim
Each month, members of the Program On Regulation, Therapeutics, And Law (PORTAL) review the peer-reviewed medical literature to identify interesting empirical studies, policy analyses, and editorials on health law and policy issues.
Below are the citations for papers identified from the month of November. The selections feature topics ranging from an analysis of Medicare Part D spending on inhalers from 2012 to 2018, to an overview of vaccine development and regulations to better understand how COVID-19 vaccines will be evaluated, to an analysis of the ethical implications of emergency authorization of COVID-19 drugs for patient care. A full posting of abstracts/summaries of these articles may be found on our website.
By Vrushab Gowda
On September 13th, President Trump issued an executive order aimed at addressing ballooning pharmaceutical expenditures.
The order seeks to apply a “most favored nation” scheme to prescription drug payments made through Medicare Parts B and D, which are currently on track to exceed $130 billion. Although ambitious in scope, the order’s ultimate impact remains to be seen.
By Sravya Chary
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus’ disproportionate threat to the Medicare patient population has been widely discussed and acknowledged. In light of the public health crisis and an increasing financial burden placed on entities involved in Medicare cost sharing, a value-based Medicare system would not only reduce costs, but also better protect the elderly and chronically ill during the pandemic.
By Ameet Sarpatwari, Charlie Lee, Frazer Tessema, and Aaron S. Kesselheim
Each month, members of the Program On Regulation, Therapeutics, And Law (PORTAL) review the peer-reviewed medical literature to identify interesting empirical studies, policy analyses, and editorials on health law and policy issues relevant to current or potential future work in the Division.