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June 20 (UPI) -- Medicare may be overpaying for some generic drugs to the tune of $3.6 billion.
That's the amount the program "conservatively" could have saved in 2020 by purchasing generic prescription drugs at the same prices offered by billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban's direct-to-consumer online pharmacy, a new study says.
The brief research report was published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
In January 2022, the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. launched an online pharmacy, selling 100-plus generic prescription drugs at the cost of ingredients and manufacturing plus 15% margin, a $3 pharmacy dispensing fee and a $5 shipping fee.
Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School compared the price of 89 generic drugs sold by Cuban's online pharmacy to the price paid by Medicare in 2020 to estimate potential savings if Medicare Part D plans had paid Cuban's prices.
They estimated potential Medicare savings as the difference in unit price between Cuban's company and Medicare, multiplied by the number of units dispensed to Medicare enrollees in 2020.
www.upi.com
That's the amount the program "conservatively" could have saved in 2020 by purchasing generic prescription drugs at the same prices offered by billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban's direct-to-consumer online pharmacy, a new study says.
The brief research report was published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
In January 2022, the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. launched an online pharmacy, selling 100-plus generic prescription drugs at the cost of ingredients and manufacturing plus 15% margin, a $3 pharmacy dispensing fee and a $5 shipping fee.
Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School compared the price of 89 generic drugs sold by Cuban's online pharmacy to the price paid by Medicare in 2020 to estimate potential savings if Medicare Part D plans had paid Cuban's prices.
They estimated potential Medicare savings as the difference in unit price between Cuban's company and Medicare, multiplied by the number of units dispensed to Medicare enrollees in 2020.
Study: Medicare could save billions by buying generic drugs 'at Mark Cuban prices' - UPI.com
Medicare could have saved $3.6 billion in 2020 by buying generic prescription drugs at the same prices offered by billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban's direct-to-consumer online pharmacy, a new study says.
www.upi.com
