This policy brief presents a quantitative analysis of the price of drug prescriptions filled in the United States compared to other developed nations. While past comparisons have often focused only on brand-name prescription prices, we evaluate the entire distribution of prices of prescriptions filled across both branded and generic products. Because generic drugs account for approximately 93% of U.S. prescriptions, and because the United States has the lowest generic drug prices among the countries analyzed, U.S. prescription costs are often lower than abroad. This contrasts with international comparisons that consider only brand-name prescriptions. We focus on five peer countries: Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan. When examining public payers such as Medicare and Medicaid, which are the primary focus of most price control efforts, we find that U.S. prescription prices are actually 18% lower than in these nations. These findings challenge the common narrative that U.S. prescription prices are universally higher and suggest that future international comparisons should take into account the full prescription market rather than focusing solely on the costliest segment.
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