The high cost of prescription drugs has become an increasingly pressing concern for policymakers, insurers, and families. New drugs—like those now available for hepatitis C— offer tremendous medical benefits, but at a cost that puts them out of reach for many patients. In an effort to address the affordability dilemma, the Louisiana Department of Health has recently introduced a novel “subscription” model under which Asegua Therapeutics, a subsidiary of Gilead Sciences, will supply, for a negotiated sum, enough hepatitis C drugs to cure virtually all incarcerated and Medicaid patients suffering from hepatitis C in Louisiana over the next five years.
On Monday, July 22, the Brookings Institution’s Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy and the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy co-hosted a discussion of the Louisiana experiment as well as other novel approaches to increasing prescription drug affordability. Featured speakers included Louisiana Secretary of Health Rebekah Gee and Wendell Primus, senior advisor to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, whose office is currently working on legislation to lower prescription drug prices.
Confronting affordability: A conversation with Rebekah Gee
Pitfalls and possibilities of subscription models
A federal perspective: A conversation with Wendell Primus
Agenda
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July 22
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Introduction
Louise Sheiner The Robert S. Kerr Senior Fellow - Economic Studies, Policy Director - The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy @lsheiner -
What are the benefits of subscription models?
Neeraj Sood Professor, Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs, Vice Dean for Research - USC Price School of Public Policy, USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics -
Confronting affordability: A conversation with Rebekah Gee
Moderator
Louise Sheiner The Robert S. Kerr Senior Fellow - Economic Studies, Policy Director - The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy @lsheiner -
Pitfalls and possibilities of subscription models
Moderator
Matthew Fiedler Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow - Economic Studies, Center on Health Policy @mattafiedlerPanelist
Rena M. Conti Associate Professor, Markets, Public Policy, and Law - Questrom School of Business, Boston University @contirena1Rekha Ramesh Executive Director, Public Policy - Gilead Sciences, Inc.Neeraj Sood Professor, Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs, Vice Dean for Research - USC Price School of Public Policy, USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics -
A federal perspective: A conversation with Wendell Primus
Moderator
David Wessel Director - The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Senior Fellow - Economic Studies @davidmwessel
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