Cédric Poget

Western governments have for a long time been confronted to an uncontrolled growth of health and drug expenditures. Over the last thirty years, health expenditures, as a share of the GDP of all OECD countries have grown from 5.4% to 8.3% . The increase in health investments was paralleled by a permanent and constant increase of life expectancy from 70.2 years in 1960 up to 78 years in 2000 . However, resources in health care are often used in an inefficient way and rising expenses are becoming a major concern for society.

Over the last decade, the share pharmaceuticals have on the global health budget has been growing at a pace of 0.1% per annum . This increase was mainly driven by a switch to newer, more expensive, but not always more effective products. This development is frustrating health and pricing authorities that are taking actions to drive drug price down, and make medicine more affordable. Price controls are now, in one form or another, applied in most industrialized countries. These interventions are the main cause why price levels for pharmaceuticals differ by up to 50% among countries with comparable per capita GDPs. Assuming that pharmaceutical demand is a function of health or illness and not of prices or costs low price countries should therefore be spending less on pharmaceuticals.

The report “Are market interventions in pharmaceutical markets an efficient tool for cost containment” shows how drug prices, prescription drug budgets, and co-payments affect consumption behaviour and health expenditures. Based on our results we present market oriented suggestions for future policy reforms that should help to overcome the inefficient consumption behaviour, drive down distribution cost and ensure the viability of an innovative drug industry.

Anzahl Seiten | 98
Abteilung/Forschungsstelle | Gesundheitsökonomie und Sozialpolitik
Jahr | 2005
Preis | CHF 35.00