The Health Savers Initiative is a project of West Health, the Committee for the Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), and Arnold Ventures, which identifies bold and concrete policy options to make healthcare more affordable for the federal government, businesses, and households. The purpose of the Health Savers Initiative is to develop policy-ready options that will lower healthcare costs economy-wide, reduce the cost of healthcare and its impact on families, and save money for the federal government.
These two policy briefs below outline and estimate new policies that would save money for the federal government and patients by increasing competitive forces in the prescription drug market.
Injecting Price Competition into Medicare Part B Drugs: This brief examines how a new payment formula for physician-administered drugs in Medicare Part B could inject price competition into drug classes that have clinically comparable options but wide price variation – blunting the advantage that higher-priced drugs have under the current formula.
Limiting Evergreening for Name-Brand Prescription Drugs: This brief examines how changing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules that grant market exclusivity to name-brand drugs could increase generic competition, curtailing manufacturers ability to take advantage of the current rules by using “evergreening” strategies to extend their exclusivity periods and either delay generic drug market entry or limit the number of patients who switch to a new generic.