Sunday, June 28, 2015
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Friday, June 19, 2015
Did Medicare Part D Affect National Trends in Health Outcomes or Hospitalizations?: A Time-Series AnalysisMedicare Part D and Health Outcomes | Annals of Internal Medicine
Did Medicare Part D Affect National Trends in Health Outcomes or Hospitalizations?: A Time-Series AnalysisMedicare Part D and Health Outcomes | Annals of Internal Medicine
Please read these comments below. The problems with the system are not highlighted - i.e. not allowing negotiation of prices.
Please read these comments below. The problems with the system are not highlighted - i.e. not allowing negotiation of prices.
Comment by Don McCanne:
"Although it was important to include a drug benefit in the Medicare program there was concern that the conservatives designing the program wanted to allow the market to work its magic. The program was to be administered by private pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) rather than the government. In fact, the government was even prohibited from negotiating drug prices with the manufacturers. Further, it was thought that the benefits of improving access to drugs would make patients healthier thus reducing future costs for Medicare.
This study shows that the magic did not work in that the drug benefit did not save money for Medicare, and it did not measurably change the health status of Medicare beneficiaries. Specifically there were no changes in emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and inpatient costs, nor was there any change in mortality.
It would not be surprising to see conservatives propose that the Part D program be terminated since it supposedly isn’t doing any good. But there are innumerable studies that have shown that some medications do provide at least a modest benefit, though those benefits were not detected by this study.
At any rate, it is clear that PBMs are not as effective price negotiators as is our government, as demonstrated by the greater value in drug purchasing that we have through the VA and the Medicaid program. Also, the PBMs waste considerable funds in excess administrative activities, not to mention the added middleman profits that they divert to themselves.
Under an improved Medicare for all we would have a more efficient and less costly publicly-administered program that would ensure that the government was paying fair prices for our drugs. It is not that way now."
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Monday, June 8, 2015
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)