The Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act signed in 2003, which has been forecasted to cost $1.2tr or more has increased costs to consumers and tax payers. This does not include other healthcare expenditures. That is the pharmaceutical cost for only seniors (admittedly the biggest consumers, but by no means all of the prescription drug users in the U.S.).
This was followed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed in 2008, designed to address coverage, with some theories about cost. In 2003 no discussions addressed cost. In 2008 a lot of discussions addressed cost, but whether this legislation does have an impact on cost is hotly debated.
Regardless of whether you are for or against these acts and whether you think that they will cost us more or less, the fact is that they are really designed to address coverage. They still do not truly address the underlying causes of the overall cost of the life sciences supply chains. The methods for reducing cost have been left to the industry players.
