A Dose of Managed Care: Controlling Drug Spending in Medicaid
研究了将医疗补助药品福利私有化对药品价格和利用的影响，发现若由私人保险公司管理所有药品福利，药品支出将下降21.3%，其中三分之一来自价格谈判，三分之二来自更多使用低成本药物。
We study the effect of privatizing Medicaid drug benefits on drug prices and utilization. Drug spending would decrease by 21.3 percent if private insurers administered all drug benefits. One-third of the decrease is driven by private insurers’ ability to negotiate prices with pharmacies. The remaining two-thirds is driven by the greater use of lower cost drugs, such as generics, and is only realized in states that give private insurers the flexibility to design drug benefits. Privatization does not reduce prescriptions per enrollee and spending cuts are smaller for drugs that lower medical spending.