Listeners to Morning Edition might have been asking that question when they heard a segment debating whether a commitment to lower drug prices to seniors by $80 billion was an adequate concession. It would have been almost impossible for any listener to assess the significance of this concession, since they do not know how much the country spends on drugs, nor the time period over which this $80 billion in lower drug prices is supposed to occur. The $80 billion in savings is supposed to occur over the next decade. Over this period the country is projected to spend more than $3.5 trillion on prescription drugs. This makes the $80 billion a bit more than 2 percent of projected spending.
--Dean Baker
