NPR interviewed PhRMA CEO and former congressman Billy Tauzin this morning. Mr. Tauzin told listeners that drugs are just 8 percent of the country's health care expenditures. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Research, prescription drugs account for almost 10 percent ($244.8 billion out of $2509.9 billion) of spending. It would have been appropriate to correct Mr. Tauzin when he understated expenditures by 20 percent.
--Dean Baker
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