According to researchers, “While consumers are experiencing more cost sharing that in fact shifts more of the drug cost burden on to them, on balance in the US consumers have experienced substantial price declines.”

A new study finds that generic drugs are a good deal for consumers; even given the cost-shifting that comes with some health plans, generic prices have gone down steadily in recent years. However, the move to high-deductible health plans means that consumers have seen fewer overall savings than they might have.

The study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), assisted by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, looked at prices for generic drugs between 2007 and 2016. The researchers noted that media accounts have reported sharp increases in specific generic drugs. A 2018 study by USC found an increase in cases of price increases for some generic drugs—but even that study found increases in less than 5 percent of all generic drugs.

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