Publications and Reports
Issue Spotlight: Prescription Drugs
View recent headlines on prescription drugs, new and noteworthy reports, or follow the Medicare prescription drug debate.
"Dilemmas In Regulation Of The Market For Pharmaceuticals"
This Web Exclusive paper from Alan Maynard and Karen Bloor examines the question: What can be learned from international experience of efforts to control spending and to improve efficiency and access in pharmaceutical markets?
Health Affairs, June 2003
"Reference Pricing For Drugs: Is It Compatible With U.S. Health Care?"
To control spending on prescription drugs, health insurance systems abroad have experimented in recent years with a novel form of patient cost sharing called "reference pricing." This Web Exclusice paper by Panos Kanavos and Uwe Reinhardt explores the difficult trade-offs that policymakers must make in designing such a system, drawing where relevant from experience abroad.
Health Affairs, June 2003
"Transferring the Financial Risks of Pharmaceutical Benefits from a Large Health Care Provider in Argentina to a Consortium of Pharmaceutical Companies"
This article, by Juan C. Cervellino, Sandra B. Corazza, Inés M. I. Bignone, M. Diana Fligman, Silvana Figueroa, Rubén Roldán, Pablo Morici, and Roberto A. Diez, discusses Argentina’s National Institute of Social Services for Retirees and Pensioners (NISSRP) plan to to transfer the risk of increasing pharmaceutical costs to a pharmaceutical consortium in exchange for a fixed monthly payment by the NISSRP.
Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública/Pan American Journal of Public Health, April 2003
Kaiser Family Foundation: Prescription Drug Trends Fact Sheet
This two-page fact sheet, last updated in October 2004, provides trend data for prescription drug coverage, expenditures and the key factors that contribute to rising prescription spending: increases in utilization and prices, and changes in drug use from older drugs to newer higher-priced drugs.
Kaiser Family Foundation, October 25, 2004
"Prescription Drug Costs and the Role of Generic Drugs: Public Opinion Among Americans Aged 45 and Over"
This nationally representative telephone survey of 1,046 Americans age 45 and over explores public opinion surrounding this legislation, prescription drug prices, and the continuing importance of a Medicare drug benefit bill.
AARP, October 2002
"America's Other Drug Problem: A Briefing Book on the Rx Drug Debate"
This publication provides background resources for the prescription drug debate.
Public Citizen, July 2002
"Federal Policies Affecting The Cost and Availability of New Pharmaceuticals"
This report by Michael Gluck of the Georgetown University Institute for Health Care Research and Policy examines several ways in which the federal government influences the availability and cost of prescription drugs.
Kaiser Family Foundation, July 2002
"Prescription Drugs Are More Expensive in Rep. Waxman’s Congressional District in California than in Canada, Europe, and Japan"
Rep. Waxman released a report that shows dramatic price difference between what an average senior on the Westside of Los Angeles pays for prescription drugs compared to the price paid by seniors in other countries.
Minority Staff,
Special Investigations Division,
Committee on Government Reform,
U.S. House of Representatives, July 2002
"Bitter Pill: The Rising Prices of Prescription Drugs for Older Americans"
Report reveals that the prices of the 50 most prescribed drugs for senior citizens rose, on average, by nearly three times the rate of inflation last year.
Families USA, June 24, 2002
"A Primer: Generic Drugs, Patents and the Pharmaceutical Marketplace"
This report discusses topics including the basics of Hatch-Waxman, the Orange book, and state laws on generic subsitution.
National Institute for Health Care Management, June 2002
"An Ocean of Difference: New York City Seniors Pay More for Prescription Drugs than in Canada, Europe, and Japan"
This report comparing New York and international drug pricing was prepared by New York Reps. Anthony D. Weiner and Carolyn B. Maloney for the House Committee on Government Reform Special Investigations Division.
House Committee on Government Reform, June 2002
"Changing Patterns in Pharmaceutical Innovation"
The study finds that prescription drugs have provided some of the most important recent medical advances, but that the variance in innovation makes quantifying the benefits and costs of new drug innovation difficult.
National Institute for Health Care Management, May 2002
"The Life Cycle of Pharmaceuticals: A Cross National Perspective"
This study by Patricia M. Danzon and Jeong D. Kim provides a life cycle perspective on cross-national differences in pharmaceutical prices, volumes and expenditures. Most
previous studies have focused solely on cross-national differences in drug prices, comparing prices for a small sample of branded products at a single point in time.
Office of Health Economics, London, April 2002
"Prescription Drug Expenditures in 2001: Another Year of Escalating Costs"
Study examines the factors leading to the 17.1% increase in retail prescription drug spending from 2000-2001.
National Institute for Health Care Management Research and Education Foundation, April 2002
"Prescription Drug Trends: A Chartbook Update"
Chartbook includes information about prescription drug coverage, expenditures and prices, utilization, drug promotion and the pharmaceutical industry.
Kaiser Family Foundation, November 2001
"Prescription Drug Reimportation: Panacea or Problem?"
Article examines the potential effects of prescription drug reimportation.
Managed Care, December 2000
"Cross-National Price Differences for Pharmaceuticals: How Large, and Why?"
This article from Patricia M. Danzon and Li-Wei claims bilateral drug price and quantity indexes, based on comprehensive data for seven
countries US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK , refute the conventional wisdom that US drug prices are much higher than elsewhere, for Laspeyres US-weighted
indexes.
Journal of Health Economics, January 2000
"Prescription Drug Pricing in Vermont: An International Price Comparison"
This report compares prescription drug prices in Vermont with drug prices in Canada and Mexico. It was prepared for Rep. Bernard Sanders (I-VT).
Minority Staff Report,
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight,
U.S. House of Representatives, November 1998
Return to HealthCast
