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More cost-sharing, less cost? Evidence on reference price drugs

Tuesday 2 October 2018, 2.00PM to - 3.15pm

Speaker(s): Annika Herr, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE), Heinrich Heine University

Abstract: This paper evaluates the causal effects of reference pricing on prices, copayments, and overall expenditures for off-patent pharmaceuticals. We use the quarterly data of the German market for anti-epileptics over four years at the package level and at the aggregate level. We exploit that the reference price has been adjusted in some of the active substances but not in others in a difference-in-differences framework.
 
At the product level, we find that a lower reference price reduces prices both for brand-name drugs and for generics, but leads to higher copayments, especially for brand-name drugs. At the aggregate level, we find that a lower reference price leads to savings on health insurance costs that come through three channels. First, lower reference prices steer the demand from brand-name products to generics. Second, brand-name firms' revenues decrease. Third, the patients bear a higher share of the costs, while overall cost are not affected.
 

Location: Alcuin A Block A019/20

Who to contact

For more information on these seminars, contact:

Adrian Villasenor
Adrian Villasenor-Lopez
Dacheng Huo
Dacheng Huo

If you are not a member of University of York staff and are interested in attending the seminar, please contact Adrian Villasenor-Lopez or Dacheng Huo so that we can ensure we have sufficient space

CHE Seminar Programme

  • Monday 21 January
    Professor Rachel Baker, Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health
  • Thursday 7 February
    Professor Philip Clarke, The Universities of Melbourne and Oxford
  • Thursday 7 March
    Professor Sonia Bhalhotra, University of Essex 
  • Thursday 4 April 
    Eugenio Zucchelli, Lancaster University
  • Monday 13 May
    Davide Rasella, Fiocruz Brazil
  • Thursday 4 July
    Stephanie von Hinke Kessler Scholder, Bristol University
  • Thursday 5 September
    Jose-Luis Fernandez, LSE 
  • Thursday 3 October
    Soren Rud Kristensen, Imperial
  • Thursday 7 November
    Linda Davies, Manchester University
  • Wednesday 5 December
    Mandy Ryan, HERU, University of Aberdeen