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The New Old Age: Part D Gains May Be Eroding
In 2003, when President George W. Bush signed the major Medicare expansion that would establish prescription drug coverage, he called it "a promise, a solemn promise, to America's seniors."
In 2003, when President George W. Bush signed the major Medicare expansion that would establish prescription drug coverage, he called it “a promise, a solemn promise, to America’s seniors.”
Medicare Part D, which took effect in 2006, initially made plenty of people angry. Some Congressional Democrats had argued that it would “privatize Medicare” by relying on insurance companies, while a number of Republicans insisted that the nation couldn’t afford the new program. Ordinary older adults learned to fear falling into the infamous “doughnut hole” coverage gap.
But in its first few years, national data shows, Part D did help elderly Medicare beneficiaries make modest progress. Out-of-pocket costs decreased. Better able to afford their medications, seniors were less likely to stop taking them for financial reasons. And they were less likely to do without other basic needs — like food and heat — in order to pay for drugs.
Source: The New York Times
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Prices for care at hospital trauma centers vary across hospitals; drug shortages reached a record high during the first quarter of 2024; although 3 of the biggest makers of asthma inhalers pledged to cap out-of-pocket costs for some US patients at $35, these do not apply to daily inhalers used by the youngest kids with asthma.
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Navigating Health Policy in an Election Year: Insights From Dr Dennis Scanlon
April 2nd 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with Dennis Scanlon, PhD, the editor in chief of The American Journal of Accountable Care®, about prior authorization, price transparency, the impact of health policy on the upcoming election, and more.
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The Biden administration recently launched the Global Health Security Strategy, a new effort to combat the spread of infectious diseases; lawmakers zeroed in on the risks of massive consolidation in health care during the first congressional hearing on the Change Healthcare hack; the FDA recently announced the recall of a pair of heart devices linked to numerous deaths and injuries.
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Exploring Medicare Advantage Prior Authorization Variations
March 26th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the March 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on variations in prior authorization use across Medicare Advantage plans.
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