Boosting hepatitis C treatment would save money, CBO says
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Doubling the number of Medicaid enrollees receiving hepatitis C treatments would avoid about $7 billion in health care costs over a decade, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report on the burden the liver disease places on medical care and safety net programs.
Why it matters: About 70,000 people are newly infected with hepatitis C each year in the U.S., and complications in untreated patients can be 10 times as costly as administering antivirals in earlier stages of the disease.
- People who inject drugs are at high risk of contracting the virus, making it difficult to estimate its prevalence or know how many are aware they have an infection.
What they found: CBO looked at two scenarios: slightly increasing the treatment rate from 5% of Medicaid enrollees with hepatitis C to about 5.5% over five years, and doubling it from 5% to 10%.
- The first would save about $700 million over 10 years, while spending on testing and treatment would increase by $500 million over that period.
- The second would save about $7 billion, and spending on testing and treatment would total $4 billion over that period.
- Higher spending on testing and diagnosis would be offset by better health outcomes, which would have a positive ripple effect on Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Insurance programs and Medicaid, and Medicare.
The analysis didn't project a cost for the substantial outreach that would be essential for boosting treatment uptake.
Catch up quick: Pricey drugs over a decade old and costing $11,500 to $17,000 per course can cure the vast majority of hepatitis C cases without side effects.
- But diagnosis and treatment have been hindered by low levels of awareness about the virus and the challenges of reaching high-risk populations.
- Efforts by Medicaid programs in states like Louisiana and Washington to increase treatments by negotiating Netflix-style contracts with individual companies have yielded mixed results and were hampered by the pandemic and lack of funding for outreach, CBO noted.
