3114.0: Monday, November 13, 2000: 2:30 PM-4:00 PM | ||||
| ||||
| High U.S. drug prices and lack of insurance make it hard for many Americans to buy the prescription drugs they need. Part of the problem is huge disparities in prescription drug prices between the U.S. and other nations, and between prices paid by American buyers with clout and by vulnerable people who lack coverage here. U.S. drug prices are highest in the world. If we paid the prices that prevail in other wealthy nations, we would save several dozen billion dollars this year. Fully 70 million Americans lack prescription drug coverage. Yet winning affordable medications for all Americans should be the easiest problem to solve--because of our high drug spending levels--$138 billion this year, and the world's highest spending level per person. State and federal politicians have introduced legislation to win wider coverage (especially under Medicare) or lower prices. This session will analyze the main legislative approaches to make medications affordable for all Americans. Recognizing that there is nothing close to a free market for prescription drugs, it will delineate responses that make medications affordable and available for all--while protecting pharmaceutical research. It will describe recent state initiatives to win lower prices | ||||
| See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement. | ||||
| Learning Objectives: Refer to the individual abstracts for learning objectives | ||||
| Alan Sager, PhD | ||||
| Prescription Drugs as a Public Good: Market and Regulatory Implications Stephen W. Schondelmeyer, PharmD, PhD | ||||
| State Drug Pricing Reform--Building the Coalition Anthony Pollina | ||||
| We Already Spend Enough to Buy All the Prescription Drugs We Need Alan Sager, PhD, Deborah S. Socolar, MPH | ||||
| Sponsor: | Health Equity and Public Hospitals Caucus | |||
| Cosponsors: | Health Administration; Social Work; Socialist Caucus; Spirit of 1848 Caucus; Women's Caucus | |||