Medicare Overpaying Billions on Prescription Drugs

A pharmacist has revealed that the cancer drug Imatinib, which costs just $7 to purchase, is sold to patients for $17 with a small markup. However, when Medicare covers the same drug, it pays $2,400 per prescription.

In one year, Medicare filled 250,000 prescriptions of Imatinib, costing taxpayers $600 million. If filled at a regular pharmacy, the total cost would have been $4 million, meaning Medicare overpaid by $596 million.

The inflated pricing stems from Pharmacy Benefits Managers (PBMs)—three companies that control over 90% of prescription pricing in the U.S. and are owned by major pharmaceutical corporations. These middlemen dictate drug prices, leading to massive taxpayer-funded overpayments.