Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage provides generous help to low-income beneficiaries, but generic drug use is lower in this population than it is for higher-income beneficiaries. Stronger incentives for beneficiaries to choose low-cost generics and for insurance plans to offer them would generate substantial savings for both taxpayers and patients.
Shai Akabas is a senior policy analyst for the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Economic Policy Project. He staffed the center's Domenici-Rivlin Debt Reduction Task Force in 2010 and assisted visiting scholar Jerome Powell in his work on the federal debt ceiling in 2011.
Brian Collins is a policy analyst with BPC’s Economic Policy Project. He staffed BPC’s Healthcare Cost Containment Initiative in 2013.
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