Prescription drug pricing

Bringing down the high cost of medication

Prescription drug pricing

Bringing down the high cost of medication

Kaiser Permanente is deeply concerned about the burden high drug prices impose on our members and the impact they have on our ability to carry out our mission. We believe it is possible — indeed essential — to ensure that the drug industry is rewarded appropriately for providing real innovation in a sustainable manner, and not just pricing their products at the highest possible price.

$1.2 billion cost to U.S. health system from 2019 drug price hikes with no evidence of increased clinical value(see note 1 below), $6,000 is the average cost of therapy for a brand name prescription drug (see note 2 below), 2.5x more prescription drug costs in the U.S. compared to other Western countries (see note 3 below).

Patients, taxpayers, health care systems, and drug companies all deserve fair and reasonable solutions. It is time for a new framework for drug pricing that more effectively rewards innovation and discoveries, and also provides medicines at prices patients can afford.

We’ve advocated for policies that:

The market for prescription drugs is complex and rife with dysfunction. We encourage policymakers to look for the root problems to help us build a prescription drug market that will be sustainable for years to come.