Medicare could have saved nearly $1 billion by using generics, study finds

Medicare could have saved nearly $1 billion in 2016 if it used generic versions of pricey combination drug-device products instead of the brand name versions, according to a new study.

The study, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, indicates that Medicare is doing an inadequate job of getting doctors to prescribe more generic drugs. The Trump administration released a blueprint in May to tackle drug prices, but it does not include anything to get doctors to prescribe more generics.