Ways & Means Committee Finds U.S. Drug Prices Quadruple Those of Similar Nations
Americans pay on average nearly four times more for prescription drugs than citizens in comparable countries, the House Ways and Means Committee claims in a report.
The committee compared 2018 pricing data for 79 prescription drugs sold in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Japan, Canada (Ontario), Denmark, Portugal, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland, finding that U.S. drug prices are nearly quadruple those of the combined average prices of the 11 countries.
The U.S. paid an estimated $76 billion in 2018 just for the 79 Medicare Part D medicines included in the sample, the committee said, claiming that $48.8 billion could be saved each year on Part D drugs alone if average prices for comparator countries were adopted.