Medicare reimburses health care providers for the drugs they administer. Since 2005, it has reimbursed based on the past price of the drug. Reimbursement on past prices could motivate manufacturers to set higher launch prices because providers become less sensitive to price and because provider reimbursement is higher if past prices were higher. Using data on drug launch prices between 1999 and 2010, we estimate that reimbursement based on past prices caused launch prices to rise dramatically. The evidence is consistent with the 2018 claim from Medicare's administrator that it “creates a perverse incentive for manufacturers to set higher prices.”

中文翻译：

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医疗保险报销是否会推高药品上市价格？

Medicare 向医疗保健提供者报销他们管理的药物。自2005年以来，它已根据该药的过去价格进行报销。对过去价格的补偿可能会促使制造商设定更高的发布价格，因为供应商对价格的敏感度降低，而且如果过去的价格更高，供应商的补偿也会更高。使用 1999 年至 2010 年间的药物上市价格数据，我们估计基于过去价格的报销导致上市价格大幅上涨。证据与 2018 年医疗保险管理人员的说法一致，即它“为制造商设定更高的价格创造了一种不正当的动机”。