That’s what a proposed pilot program for Medicare is trying to figure out and it’s become a political hot potato. Powerful voices on either side of the debate describe the current system and the possible change as “perverse.”

The United States spends more on health care than any other financially similar country in the world and yet we are still sicker than these other countries. While we spend about 17.1% of our GDP on health care and we don’t live as long, we have a higher rate of chronic disease and more American babies die than in these other countries.

A large part of what makes our health care so expensive is the high cost of prescription drugs. Americans pay more for in-patent prescription drugs than all other countries studied, research from 2013 found. In part, that might be because American doctors are prescribing new drugs and more expensive drugs compared to their foreign counterparts.

While the market largely regulates what we pay for drugs, the Obama administration has proposed a new experiment it hopes will drive down some of the costs.

The experiment involves a five-year pilot program that would change the way doctors are reimbursed for prescribing certain drugs under Medicare Part B. The program would test to see if doctors would chose less expensive drugs to treat cancer patients and other patients who need injectables. That includes people who need treatment for macular degeneration, rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease. These patients and their drugs account for a large percentage of the cost of Medicare Part B. If the administration could reduce the amount spent on these drugs, it could save taxpayers a significant amount of money.

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