Health Care Reform, Baby Boomers, and the Pharmaceutical Industry

• Activity Number: 192
• Type: Roundtables
• Date/Time: Monday, August 1, 2011 : 12:30 PM to 1:50 PM
• Sponsor: Biopharmaceutical Section
• Author(s): T. Paulette Ceesay*+ and Darcy Hille
• Companies: Merck & Co., Inc. and Merck & Co., Inc.
• Keywords: healthcare reform ; baby boomers ; pharmaceutical industry

Abstract

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or healthcare reform is the farthest-reaching piece of social welfare legislation in four decades and is still a hotly debated topic. Some members of the general public are still confused over its provisions. The first Post World War II baby boomers are beginning to turn 65 and many of them have been hit hard by the recession with job cuts and catastrophic losses to their assets and 401ks. Government may seek to limit the amount of funds spent on prescription drugs to increase availability to a larger population resulting in placing a heavier burden on consumers for the purchase of cutting edge drugs, therapies and patient specific prescriptions due to non-responsiveness to generics. The discussion will focus on how we as statisticians may be able to predict the impact of this historic legislation to the pharmaceutical companies' bottom line as it relates to cost, research and development.