Medicare Part D Improvements Help Beneficiaries and Taxpayers
Fifteen years ago, President George W. Bush signed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act which, among other things, created Medicare Part D to cover outpatient prescription drugs. Today, more than 40 million Americans are enrolled in Medicare Part D prescription drug plans. Medicare Part D has since benefited from a number of changes that helped reduce prescription drug-related expenses for older Americans. Unfortunately, this important progress is now under threat. Basics of Medicare Part D The standard Medicare …
Don’t Hate the Player, Hate the Game: Drug Pricing in America
Turing Pharmaceuticals recently faced intense public criticism after the company bought a 62-year-old drug and increased its price by 5,000 percent. Turing’s unusually outspoken chief executive officer, Martin Shkreli, strongly defended the decision, even going so far as to argue that the new price was still below market value. Shkreli’s brazenly unapologetic attitude — along with some eyebrow-raising behavior on social media — quickly earned him the title of “most-hated man in the United States.” A few months later, his …
New Medicare Program May Be Reducing Hospital Readmissions for Joint Replacement Patients
Lately you may have noticed a growing number of commercials filled with people happily touting the benefits of their new joints. Experts expect such procedures to become increasingly popular as the active boomer population continues to age. However, the commercials typically gloss over the fact that joint replacements do not come without risk: Implant-related complications are common and can lead to unplanned hospital readmissions. While many hospital readmissions are unavoidable, experts believe hospitals can reduce readmissions for certain conditions. Accordingly, …
FTC Raises Concerns About Efforts to Blunt Rx Competition
Biologic drugs are often used to treat health conditions that affect older populations – diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Derived from living organisms, biologics have an estimated average cost of $35,000 a year, which is far more than that of traditional, chemically derived drugs. Congress recently granted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to approve less expensive generic versions of biologic drugs, known as biosimilars or follow-on biologics. But while the FDA continues to work …
Efforts to Protect Lipitor from Generic Competition: Cause for Concern?
A new Rx Price Watch report examines the strategies reportedly used by Pfizer to try to maintain revenue and market share for its popular anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor as its patent expired. Pfizer’s tactics raise important concerns for consumers and publicly funded programs like Medicare. The patent for Lipitor was originally expected to expire no later than June 2011 after 14 years on the market. In response, Pfizer reportedly developed an unprecedented strategy to protect and extend Lipitor sales, which included: …
State Laws Could Hamper Savings from Biosimilar Drugs
Many consumers have benefited from the recent increase in brand-name drugs that are going off patent, allowing less expensive generic drugs to enter the market. The same may happen with a new type of drugs known as biologics – but only if the generic versions of these drugs are allowed to reach consumers. Biologic drugs are medicines derived from living organisms that are often used to treat health conditions that commonly affect older populations, such as cancer, multiple sclerosis …
