Opinion: The U.S. should assess the economic value of drugs rather than leave it up to other countries
One reason why prescription drugs are often priced lower overseas is that many countries perform detailed assessments of the economic value of drugs and their benefits. These assessments result in hard bargaining with drug companies before the medicines are allowed into national health plans.
The Trump administration has proposed to reference prices set through drug valuations made by other countries as a way to help Medicare contain prices for drugs administered in U.S. doctors’ offices and hospitals (Medicare Part B).
The president’s proposal came as a surprise. He had last year for “global freeloading” on the U.S., which ends up paying the vast part of that in turn fund research and development, despite accounting for only 27 percent of global revenues; thus, American patients use newer drugs and face higher prices.
