Prescription drug prices are at unprecedented levels. There is a huge human impact to not being able to afford medications: according to a new study by West Health, over 1.1 million people insured by Medicare could die over the next decade because they cannot afford their prescription medications. For some time, drug spending in Medicare Parts D and B has grown faster than overall Medicare spending. Rather than negotiate drug prices itself, Medicare allows private insurers to negotiate prices on its behalf for pharmacy drugs under the Medicare Part D program. For drugs administered by physicians under the Medicare Part B program, Medicare currently pays whatever manufacturers charge, with no negotiation at all. This episode covers how negotiation rules could better serve patients and taxpayers, and what policy strategies might help drive costs down.Host: Leanne Clark Shirley, PhD, Vice President, Programs & Thought Leadership, American Society on AgingGuest: Ameet Sarpatwari, PhD, JD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Assistant Director of the Program On Regulation, Therapeutics, And Law (PORTAL) within the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. [email protected] This episode was sponsored by West Health Policy CenterResourcesGenerations Supplement Article: A Modest Proposal: Negotiate Medicare Drug PricesHigh Drug Prices and Patient Costs: Millions of Lives and Billions of Dollars Lost Competition and price among brand-name drugs in the same class: A systematic review of the evidence H.R. 3 Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act 

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