In a comparison between Medicare’s spending in 2020 and the prices of Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company, researchers discovered that Medicare could have saved $3.6 billion, according to new research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School published Monday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
Dr. Hussain Saleem Lalani, a researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the study’s lead author, said that the research "does show that Medicare is overpaying for some of the generic drugs.”
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“This is a conservative estimate, so the actual savings are likely higher,” Lalani added.
The study reviewed the cost of 89 generic drugs sold by Cost Plus Drug in 2022 alongside the prices Medicare Part D plans paid in 2020. With an adjustment for price-point changes between 2020 and 2022, researchers found that Medicare paid $8.1 billion compared to Cost Plus Drug’s $4.5 billion price tag. The study noted that the savings would have applied to 77 of the 89 generic drugs.
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The researchers’ analysis did not evaluate out-of-pocket costs for Medicare enrollees, making it hard to know the precise effect on costs at the pharmacy counter if Medicare had purchased the generic drugs at a cheaper rate.
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Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company sells hundreds of medications at the cost of production with a 15% service fee and a $3 pharmacy fee, promising up to 90% savings on prescription drugs, according to the company’s website.
The Biden administration is illegally trying to expand Obamacare.
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The Internal Revenue Service has published a proposed restriction that would make an additional 5 million people fit for premium subsidies.
The IRS suggestion is unlawful, but the administration will do it anyway, as it did with vaccine mandates.
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The Obamacare law created premium subsidies for people who buy insurance through exchanges. Congress restricted those subsidies to people with low and moderate incomes who had no other source of health insurance.
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In addition to Medicare and Medicaid recipients, 155 million Americans with job-based coverage are prohibited from claiming the credits.
The law emitted one exception: If a company plan requires a full-time employee to contribute more than 9.5% of household income for “self-only coverage,” then the worker and his or her family members are eligible for premium subsidies.
The IRS regulations, on the books since 2013, faithfully implement the law, basing eligibility for tax credits on the affordability of employer-sponsored self-only coverage.
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