title: Drug licenses: a new model for pharmaceutical pricing.
abstract: High drug prices are a major barrier to patients' access to drugs and compliance with treatment. Yet low drug prices are often argued to provide inadequate incentives for innovation. We propose a drug-licensing model for health care, which has the promise of increasing drug use without altering patients' out-of-pocket spending, health plans' costs, or drug companies' profits. In such a model, people would purchase annual drug licenses that would guarantee unfettered access to a clinically optimal number of prescriptions over the course of a year. Using the example of statins, we illustrate how such a model could be implemented.
authors.affiliation: Bing Center for Health Economics, RAND, Santa Monica, California, USA. dgoldman@rand.org
authors.forename: Dana P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Goldman
authors.forename: Anupam B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Jena
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Philipson
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D004345:Drug Industry / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000191:economics / Q000600:supply & distribution; D007356:Insurance, Pharmaceutical Services; D008004:Licensure / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D018803:Models, Economic; D011306:Prescription Fees / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors