The Unintended Consequences of Medicare's Price Controls The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Biden in 2019, aimed to control pharmaceutical costs by letting Medicare set drug prices.
Proponents claimed this would save taxpayers billions over the next decade. However, a new study suggests that this approach may ultimately raise average lifetime prices for certain medications.
University of Chicago economist Tomas Philipson and his colleagues conducted research showing that Medicare's price controls could lead to an 19% increase in average lifetime prices for the first 25 medicines selected for price setting.