Health affairs
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The argument that prescription drugs are cost-effective has been made both by the pharmaceutical industry to support rising drug prices and expenditures, and by advocates of expanded drug coverage for elderly and low-income persons. A new database of 228 published cost-utility analyses sheds light on the issue. ⋯ Cost-utility analyses funded by the drug industry tend to report more favorable results than do those funded by nonindustry sources. Cost-effectiveness analysis can help policymakers to determine whether drugs and other interventions offer value for money.
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This paper describes a preliminary cost estimate, prepared by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), of President Clinton's 1999 prescription drug benefit proposal. The CBO estimated that the new benefit would increase net Medicare outlays by $136 billion between 2002 and 2009, although these estimates are highly uncertain. Because the proposal included an annual cap on the amount of the benefit, it did not require consideration of an important effect of a more comprehensive benefit: higher prices for some drugs. Estimates of future proposals for a Medicare prescription drug benefit may require consideration of that pricing effect.