When it comes to prescription drug prices, what goes up often continues to go up – and 2021 is no exception.
Each January, the pharmaceutical industry is known for raising prices. And this month, the median wholesale price increased 4.8% for 645 brand-name medicines in the U.S., according to a new analysis by 46Brooklyn, a market research firm.
Looked at another way, wholesale prices rose by a weighted average of 5.2%, but based only on Medicaid usage. Both calculations, though, do not reflect still more price hikes that are expected to occur later this month, since not every drug maker has reported anticipated increases.
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Ed,
Nice job highlighting the disconnect between list prices and actual discounted prices. The role of list prices for the computation of coinsurance and deductibles is grossly unfair, especially when net prices for brand-name drugs have declined for the past three years.
Alas, STAT (like every other new outlet) fails to report on list price changes for the other 85%+ of US healthcare costs, where net prices never decline and *every* aspect of healthcare (hospital costs, physician salaries, etc.) is much more expensive than the US.