Policy makers use reference pricing to curb pharmaceutical expenditures by reducing coverage of expensive branded drugs. In a theoretical analysis we show that the net effect of reference pricing is generally ambiguous when accounting for entry by generic producers. Reference pricing shifts...

Many countries with national health care providers and health insurances regulate the market for pharmaceuticals to steer drug demand and to control expenses. For example, they introduce reference pricing or tiered co-payments to enhance drug substitution and competition. Since 2006, Germany...

Reference prices constitute a main determinant of patient health care reimbursement in many countries. We study the effects of a change from an external (based on a basket of prices in other countries) to an internal (based on comparable domestic products) reference price system. We find that...

On April 1, 2005, Denmark changed the way references prices, a main determinant of reimbursements for pharmaceutical purchases, are calculated. The previous reference prices, which were based on average EU prices, were substituted to minimum domestic prices. Novel to the literature, we estimate...

Angesichts einer wachsenden Vielfalt an teuren Behandlungsmöglichkeiten und Medikamenten stellt die ökonomische Nachhaltigkeit eine besondere Herausforderung für Gesundheitssysteme mit universellem Versicherungsschutz dar. Ein bewährtes Mittel zur Kostendämpfung sind Zuzahlungen der...

Given the growing variety of expensive treatments and drugs, economic sustainability is a particular challenge for healthcare systems with universal insurance coverage. Patient co-payment regimes for prescription drugs are a proven means of cost containment worldwide. However, there is little...

We study the effects of a change in the way patient reimbursements are calculated on the prices of pharmaceuticals using quasi-experimental data for Denmark which switched from external (where reimbursements are based on prices of similar products in foreign countries) to internal reference...

We study the effects of a change in the way patient reimbursements are calculated on the prices of pharmaceuticals using quasi-experimental data for Denmark which switched from external (where reimbursements are based on prices of similar products in foreign countries) to internal reference...

I study the effect of reference pricing on competition by parallel imports, in particular the market share of parallel imports and the number of parallel traders. First, I analyze the effect of reference pricing on competition by parallel imports in a vertical differentiation model with a...

Constantly rising expenditures for pharmaceuticals require government intervention in firms' pricing decisions. To this end, reference pricing systems are a frequently employed regulatory mechanism. This paper considers a duopoly market with vertically differentiated firms under different...