Opinion: A federal drug purchasing program could save billions
When Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan announced they were creating a new health care company in 2018, it raised the possibility of the purchasing power such a company could have. Although the venture has since been disbanded, imagine the purchasing power the federal government could wield for buying drugs if all federal agencies that purchase prescription drugs were combined into a single purchasing pool.
Today, only the Veterans Administration, Department of Defense, Public Health Service, and Coast Guard — known collectively as the big four — maximize their purchasing clout to help save hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 placed a cap on drug makers’ prices to charge the big four. They use a national drug formulary (preapproved list of medications) and steer patients to lower-cost drugs while buying large volumes of medications, increasing their purchasing power with pharmaceutical manufacturers.
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