Medicare drug benefit gets good marks

[Kadie]

Medicare drug benefit gets good marks
59 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The Medicare drug benefit may have caused confusion when it was launched in 2006, but the program has since "exceeded expectations" in getting seniors coverage and trimming their medication costs, according to a new report.

A study by the non-profit research organization RAND found that by 2008, nearly 90 percent of Medicare beneficiaries had drug coverage that was at least as generous as the standard benefit required of insurers participating in the program.

On average, the drug benefit -- known as Medicare Part D -- cut seniors' annual out-of-pocket costs by 16 percent, while increasing the number of prescriptions by 7 percent.

"In the beginning there was a lot of concern about Medicare Part D, but we found convincing evidence that it has exceeded expectations and generally has been successful," lead researcher Dr. Geoffrey F. Joyce, a senior economist at RAND in Santa Monica, California, said in a written statement.

"Most seniors now have prescription drug coverage that allows them to buy drugs at a reasonable cost," he added.

What's more, the study found, much of the medication savings has been concentrated among lower-income beneficiaries.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_medicare_benefit

[pinto]

1. Interesting cost comparison with other insurance, yet that "doughnut hole" remains the stickler.

from the same article -

"According to one study, Joyce's team notes, 3 million Part D enrollees hit that coverage gap in 2007, and 20 percent either stopped taking their medication, cut back on doses or switched to a different drug."

That's unacceptable in my book ~ pinto

[Kadie]

3. Yep.

I almost put that paragraph in my op, but didn't know what to cut to get it there. I don't understand how they can call a plan a success when people have to stop taking their medication.

[grilled onions]

2. Ah Yes The Doughnut Hole

While many will fast approach this mark many others,including myself hit it close to July 1st and have little chance of ever getting them to kick in before the year is up. There are plans that allow generics to be paid,at least partly, but there are still many drugs out there that have no generics,no substitutions. Yes there are the foreign pharmacies but many often have to switch drugs and it gets very complicated having to order,reorder a new script etc,especially for the elderly. Clearly there should be a better system that would elminate the doughnut hole.

[shraby]

4. Donut hole is bad, but so too is the penalty for not signing

up when you turn 65. Neither Mr. Shraby nor I took anything when we turned 65. I now take a blood pressure med which costs me less than the premiums plus what my cost would be after the ins. paid, so I'm on Wisconsin SeniorCare as was he until he had a stroke this spring (he is 67) and needed expensive meds. Wisconsin SeniorCare was to let us avoid a penalty which in practice doesn't work so good..we sent in proof he was on it when we applied for Part D for him, and now they want us to prove it again and we have to challenge the determination that it might not be adequate coverage. There was and is no doubt it's adequate..Wisconsin SeniorCare as well as Sen. Feingold's office has had to address this several times before. Seems to me that once should be enough and the Medicare people would be able to remember it.
I found out that the penalty isn't just for when you sign up, it continues every year after that. So totally wrong to do this to old people on social security.