Savings Through Drug Rebates

The Medicaid Drug Rebate Program requires state Medicaid programs to cover nearly all FDA-approved prescription drugs. In exchange, drug manufacturers are mandated to provide rebates that offset high prices.

While this program initially only applied to brand-name drugs, Congress expanded it to include generic drugs in 2017.

In their recently published Health Affairs article, Benjamin Rome and colleagues at Harvard investigate the effects of this expansion.

Using Medicaid State Drug Utilization Data, Rome and coauthors determine that during the study period 2017–20, “approximately one in four generic drugs triggered an inflationary rebate each quarter,” and inflationary rebates offset an estimated 2–12 percent of the $54 billion total Medicaid generic drug spending.

These findings suggest that inflationary rebates contributed to significant savings in Medicaid generic drug spending and could allow for resources to be distributed to other Medicaid programs.

Elsewhere at Health Affairs

In the next article in Health Affairs’ new Forefront series, Private Sector Solutions for Health Equity, author Adaeze Enekwechi argues that we should plan to leverage all forms of capital—public, private, and nonprofit alike—and work toward aligning incentives to support the goals of improving health for all.

Health Affairs is grateful to CVS Health for supporting this work.

Also in Forefront, Aoife McDermott and colleagues discuss measuring the impact of interventions to retain health care staff.

And January Angeles writes about how states setting health care spending growth targets experienced accelerated growth in 2021.

Elevating Voices

During June, we're highlighting influential voices and organizations who have made an impact on LGBTQ+ health equity and policy.

Did you know?

This month, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the US for the first time in its 40+ year history.

More than 75 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been signed into law in 2023 thus far, which the HRC highlights in their latest report. According to the report, "...30.9% of all transgender youth age 13–17 are living in states where they can no longer access life-saving, best practices medical care."

About Health Affairs

Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewed journal at the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found through healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs Today, and Health Affairs Sunday Update.

Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.

Copyright © Project HOPE: The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.
Health Affairs, 1220 19th Street, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20036, United States

Privacy Policy

To unsubscribe from this email, update your email preferences here.