Media

Press Release

GPhA Statement on Senate Finance Committee Health Care Reform Bill

Arlington, VA, September 16, 2009 – The Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) today issued the following statement from Kathleen Jaeger, President and CEO of the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA), on the release of the Senate Finance Committee health care reform bill.

“While we understand that the Finance Committee negotiated in good faith to find costs savings in their health care reform bill, we are concerned that the proposals to increase generic drug Medicaid rebates will actually have just the opposite intent. Increasing rebates on generic medicines could have the unintended consequence of also increasing the costs of generics for consumers and the government.

“Competition from and among generic manufacturers produces enormous savings to consumers and the U.S. health care system. Generic medicines currently fill 70% of the prescriptions dispensed in the U.S., yet account for only 16% of total spending on prescription drugs. Moreover, using generic medicines saves our health care system a remarkable $1 billion every three days.

“Therefore, instead of raising rebate rates which could only result in weakening competition and, ultimately, raising costs to consumers, Congress should work to increase generic utilization. At current costs for brand and generic prescriptions within the Medicaid program, even a 2% increase in Medicaid generic utilization would save almost $1 billion annually.

“Generic drugs currently generate billions of dollars in savings each year to the Medicaid program. Adding costs to generic drugs is simply not worth the risk of reducing competition in the markets that generate these tremendous savings.

“We will continue to work with the Committee and the full Senate and House to fully explain the true unintended consequences of these proposals. The goal of health care reform should be to do no harm to consumers, and, unfortunately, these proposals will ultimately leave consumers holding the bag in terms of increased costs.”

GPhA represents the manufacturers and distributors of finished generic pharmaceuticals, manufacturers and distributors of bulk active pharmaceutical chemicals, and suppliers of other goods and services to the generic drug industry. Generics represent 69% of the total prescriptions dispensed in the United States, but only 16% of all dollars spent on prescription drugs. For more information about the industry, visit www.gphaonline.org.
# # #

• More press releases
• Other resources in Medicaid