Doughnut holes and price controls

In 2003 citizens of Canada, the United Kingdom, and France paid an average of 34-59 percent of what Americans paid for a similar market basket of pharmaceuticals. If the Medicare program were to pay comparable prices for pharmaceuticals, it would be possible to eliminate the "doughnut hole" in its prescription drug benefit and keep Medicare drug spending within the overall limits established by Congress. This provides Congress with a clear choice: reduce the level of cost sharing and improve beneficiaries' access to pharmaceuticals, or allow the pharmaceutical industry to use the higher prices to fund research and development and to engage in other activities.