Review Article

​

Year: 2025 I Volume: 7 I Issue: 3I Pages I 

https://doi.org/10.46982/gjmt.2025.104 

​​

The Budget Impact Trap: Why the Cheapest Drug May Not Be the Most Affordable

Nagwa Ibrahim

​

1 Global Healthcare Activities SRL, Cluj Napoca, Romania

​​​

* Corresponding Author: Nagwa Ibrahim, Pharm D, PhD

Email address: nag_ibrahim@hotmail.com

​

Source of funding:  None

Conflict of interest: None

​

Submission date: 16 July 2025

Acceptance date:  10 September 2025

​​

Get permission for commercial use.

​

Key words: Budget Impact Analysis (BIA), Affordability, Healthcare System, Effectiveness, Health Technology Assessment, Pharmacoeconomic

​

Abstract:

​

Background: Healthcare decision makers frequently equate affordability with low acquisition costs when selecting pharmaceutical therapies. However, affordability extends beyond the purchase price and includes the broader consequences of treatment on healthcare budgets, resource utilization, and patient outcomes. Budget Impact Analysis (BIA) has become an essential component of health technology assessment because it evaluates the short- and medium-term financial consequences of adopting a health intervention within a specific healthcare system. Evidence from pharmacoeconomic literature demonstrates that focusing exclusively on drug acquisition costs may result in higher overall expenditures due to inferior effectiveness, adverse events, poor adherence, and increased healthcare utilization. This review examines the concept of the “budget impact trap” and highlights why the cheapest drug may not necessarily represent the most affordable treatment option.