Dan Klein Outlines Policy Changes to Strengthen the Safety Net

Dan Klein, president and CEO of the Patient Access Network (PAN) Foundation, lists possible policy changes that would strengthen the safety net.

Transcript

What policy changes are you looking to see that would strength the safety net?

One of the big changes we would like to see is spreading the out-of-pocket cost for Medicare patients throughout the benefit year rather than having it all hit in the beginning of the year. I think a lot of patients really could probably afford their out of pocket cost if they could spread it out. So, we’re hoping that there will be some attention towards that. We would also like to see at least one highly effective drug for each indication being placed on a non-specialty tier. So, having a copay rather than a coinsurance for at least one of the innovators specialty drugs for each indication. Then, of course, the third and one you hear more often is putting an out-of-pocket limit on the catastrophic phase in Medicare. We think that that would be helpful but it’s not gonna affect that many people. There’s only about 2% of Medicare beneficiaries who reach the catastrophic threshold.