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The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Dear John,

Two articles in the June issue discuss drug pricing.

Drug Prices & Medicare Spending

During a recent Health Affairs Policy Spotlight
,
Elizabeth "Liz" Fowler, the new deputy administrator of the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services and director of its Center for Medicare
and Medicaid Innovation, said, "Lowering prescription drug prices is a
big priority for the Biden administration," but that "it is one of the
most difficult things to tackle."

Two papers in the June issue of Health Affairs discuss drug pricing.

Biosimilars, drugs with essentially the same molecular composition and
comparable clinical effects as a reference product, have only briefly
been part of the US market but have potential to lower prescription drug
pricing and health care spending.

In a new paper, Ariel Dora Stern and coauthors investigated biosimilars
on the market

and found that lower biosimilar product prices help offset increases in
average annual reference-product prices.  

Stern also appears on today's episode of A Health Podyssey to discuss
this research
.

In another article, So-Yeon Kang and colleagues examined trends
associated with high-price drugs

and found a very high concentration of Medicare Part D spending on an
increasing number of these expensive drugs. In 2012, high-price drugs
only accounted for 1.5 percent of Medicare Part D spending on brand-name
drugs, but by 2018, that percentage was 19.3 percent.

For additional articles, blog posts, podcasts, and more on drug prices
and health care spending, check out our Considering Health Spending
initiative.

Today on Health Affairs Blog, Katie Keith discusses the latest
developments in Affordable Care Act (ACA) enrollment
.
Regina Herzlinger and Barak Richman propose expanding a little-known
rule that allows using health reimbursement accounts

to purchase insurance.

Douglas Strane and coauthors argue that the American Rescue Plan Act
does not correct fundamental and longstanding weaknesses in family and
dependent health insurance coverage
.

Elevating Voices: Pride Month: Kevin Nguyen and colleagues wrote in
their 2018 Health Affairs paper that although disparities in access to
care between lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) and straight adults
narrowed in the post-ACA era, LGB adults still reported having
significantly more bad mental health days

relative to their straight peers.

Your Daily Digest

Biosimilars And Follow-On Products In The United States: Adoption,
Prices, And Users

Ariel Dora Stern et al.

Podcast: How Biosimilars Are Affecting The Drug Markets

Alan Weil and Ariel Dora Stern

Ultra-Expensive Drugs And Medicare Part D: Spending And Beneficiary Use
Up Sharply

So-Yeon Kang et al.

HealthCare.gov Special Enrollment Tops 1.2 Million

Katie Keith

Cutting The Gordian Knot Of Employee Health Care Benefits And Costs: A
Corporate Model Built On Employee Choice

Regina Herzlinger and Barak Richman

Leveraging Health Care Reform To Address Underinsurance In Working
Families

Douglas Strane et al.

Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Adults Report Continued Problems Affording
Care Despite Coverage Gains

Kevin H. Nguyen et al.

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How Biosimilars Are Affecting The Drug Markets

Listen to Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interview Ariel Dora
Stern from Harvard Business School on what biosimilars are and how the
pharmaceutical market is evolving in response to their market entry.

Listen Here

 

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mailto:[email protected]

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