Medicare Could Have Saved $3.6B on Generic Drugs
1–10 of 86 posts
Re: Medicare Could Have Saved $3.6B on Generic Drugs
#2This is comparing to generic drugs from one specific company, based on the notion that the specific company is capable of providing a cheaper generic drug in a situation most favorable to the drug maker (a bulk purchase). It doesn’t actually go into if the generic will actually be a suitable replacement for each patient. For people with complex health needs, like the over 65+ folks on Medicare, it makes total sense to be on precise, non-generic drugs. I’ve known plenty of people with complex health needs that cannot take the generic, for whatever reason. Hell, I know people with needs like ADHD (a single diagnosis, not a complex health case) that cannot take a generic version.
Re: Medicare Could Have Saved $3.6B on Generic Drugs
#3Note: this is less than one half of one percent of total Medicare spending.
Re: Medicare Could Have Saved $3.6B on Generic Drugs
#4the problem is most capitalists wouldn't dare venture into that arena due to how intrenched the incumbents are. This makes the market highly inefficient due to lack of competition. Good on Cuban for daring to go whether other capitalists will not. I hope it works out for him.
Re: Medicare Could Have Saved $3.6B on Generic Drugs
#5This is comparing to generic drugs from one specific company, based on the notion that the specific company is capable of providing a cheaper generic drug in a situation most favorable to the drug maker (a bulk purchase). It doesn’t actually go into if the generic will actually be a suitable replacement for each patient. For people with complex health needs, like the over 65+ folks on Medicare, it makes total sense t…
Sure, this is a valid point. But this is not true for the majority of Medicare patients and, importantly, not why this is the case. This is happening because of existing deals and non-competitive drug purchasing.
Re: Medicare Could Have Saved $3.6B on Generic Drugs
#6Not just generics.
Ever get a coupon from a drug manufacturer that drops your copay from hundreds of dollars to $10 or $20? Ever wonder why?
It’s because Medicare gets an automatic discount (I think 20% these days but I’m no longer in the biz) from the manufacturer’s official price. So they simply set the official price at some huge figure and rake in huge bucks from the largest buyer, Medicare.
Then they negotiate with the for profit insurance companies and subsidize the copays so that nobody complains to their congress person.
It’s a huge rip off. Medicare should be paying a discount to the median price actually paid on the open market. But apparent nobody has an incentive to fix this.
Re: Medicare Could Have Saved $3.6B on Generic Drugs
#7This is comparing to generic drugs from one specific company, based on the notion that the specific company is capable of providing a cheaper generic drug in a situation most favorable to the drug maker (a bulk purchase). It doesn’t actually go into if the generic will actually be a suitable replacement for each patient. For people with complex health needs, like the over 65+ folks on Medicare, it makes total sense t…
Yeah no.
Generics -are- equivalent and regulated to be as such. [1] If you are hearing anything different it's just BS.
[1] https://www.fda.gov/drugs/questions-answers/generic-drugs-qu...
Re: Medicare Could Have Saved $3.6B on Generic Drugs
#8Note: this is less than one half of one percent of total Medicare spending.
A billion here, a billion there, soon you're talking real money
Re: Medicare Could Have Saved $3.6B on Generic Drugs
#9This is comparing to generic drugs from one specific company, based on the notion that the specific company is capable of providing a cheaper generic drug in a situation most favorable to the drug maker (a bulk purchase). It doesn’t actually go into if the generic will actually be a suitable replacement for each patient. For people with complex health needs, like the over 65+ folks on Medicare, it makes total sense t…
Wait what? This analysis is very much a broken window fallacy (fallacy of the seen vs the unseen); there are also very likely individuals "who can only take the generic version" because maybe the dosing schedules/bioavailability are slightly tweaked by the fillers or delivery additive, etc.
Re: Medicare Could Have Saved $3.6B on Generic Drugs
#10This is comparing to generic drugs from one specific company, based on the notion that the specific company is capable of providing a cheaper generic drug in a situation most favorable to the drug maker (a bulk purchase). It doesn’t actually go into if the generic will actually be a suitable replacement for each patient. For people with complex health needs, like the over 65+ folks on Medicare, it makes total sense t…
Yeah no. Generics -are- equivalent and regulated to be as such. [1] If you are hearing anything different it's just BS. [1] https://www.fda.gov/drugs/questions-answers/generic-drugs-qu...
They aren't perfectly equivalent, but see my sibling comment.