Germany figured out how to cut healthcare costs: Make Americans pay the bill

WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Germany has found a convenient way to cut healthcare costs: send the bill for medical innovation to the United States.

Under a new policy, Germany will tighten its already aggressive controls on what drugmakers can charge for innovative medicines. The result is predictable: Germany will contribute even less toward the cost of developing new treatments while American patients shoulder more of the burden.

Germany is hardly alone. Across Europe, wealthy countries suppress drug prices by government decree while relying on the U.S. to finance the vast majority of pharmaceutical innovation.

Today, the public generates roughly three-quarters of global pharmaceutical profits even as foreign patients gain access to the same medicines at heavily discounted prices. President Donald Trump has spent years arguing that wealthy allies should stop free-riding on American taxpayers for their security. The same principle applies to medical innovation.

As someone born in Germany, I find my home country’s approach frustratingly familiar.

For years, Germany has used aggressive price controls and reimbursement restrictions to suppress what it pays for innovative medicines. That allows Berlin to contain healthcare costs while shifting more of the burden of pharmaceutical innovation onto the U.S.

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