Supporters of the Inflation Reduction Act are applauding its drug pricing measures, claiming they will help average Americans get a handle on rising healthcare expenses. But at what cost in terms of health impact?
Together with my colleagues at the University of Chicago, I have found that the existing evidence implies that lowered R&D incentives resulting from the IRA will reduce lifespans by an amount 30 times higher than COVID mortality effects to date.
This calculation is substantially at odds with other assessments, including a recent and influential one by Avik Roy and Gregg Girvan published in the Washington Post. While I often agree with their work, they have misstated the effects in this case.
