Patients may not see savings from new Medicare drug programs

Managed Healthcare Executive January 19, 2026
Denise Myshko

Key Takeaways

• GLOBE and GUARD link Medicare drug rebates to international pricing, potentially saving billions but not benefiting health plans or patients directly.
• The programs affect only 25% of claims, with single-source drugs or biologics included, and face uncertainties in international price calculations.
• Legal challenges may arise due to potential overreach of CMMI’s authority and the complexity of international pricing systems.
• Confidential pharmaceutical agreements and the lack of transparency in price calculations raise concerns about the effectiveness and fairness of the proposed models.

Medicare’s recently released drug pricing models GLOBE and GUARD use international price benchmarks to generate government rebates but experts say they are unlikely to reduce costs for patients.

The proposed plans to test two models...

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