Report Says Medicaid Overpays for Drugs (Waxman says Fed. not

[rodeodance]

doing its job!!


March 8, 2005
Report Says Medicaid Overpays for Drugs
By ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON, March 7 - Federal health officials are not enforcing a law that requires drug companies to cut their prices on drugs bought for poor people under Medicaid, Congressional investigators said on Monday.

The investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, said the federal Medicaid agency rarely verified the accuracy of price data reported by drug manufacturers and used to compute the discounts required by law. As a result, they said, Medicaid, the nation's largest health insurance program, with more than 50 million beneficiaries, often pays too much for prescription drugs.

Even when federal officials detect errors and problems in the data, they do not require drug companies to make corrections, the report said.......


Moreover, it said, the agency, headed by Dr. Mark B. McClellan, does little to "ensure the accuracy of reported prices" and discounts provided by drug makers.......

[Moderator]

1. please add link to original post

TIA :)

[sendero]

2. The drug companies..

... say they sell overseas at reduced prices to have access to the overseas markets.

Medicare/Medicaid should tell the drug companies that they will pay not one cent more than the lowest price a given drug is sold for anywhere in the world. After all, M/M must buy a huge percentage of the drugs sold here, and surely the drug companies want access to that market.

But no, our creative leaders cannot think of anything as simple or logical as that.

[jbnow]

4. Not Medicare at all

The US negotiates for reduced prices for Medicaid and Veteran's hospitals (the ones they pay for)

In the new Medicare drug law...they are forbidden to negotiate prices. It will be full price, like the uninsured pay now, far higher then insurance companies pay. Further medi-gap coverage for seniors prescriptions are forbidden. We have medi-gap that can be purchased now...for about $100/month all the Medicare copays in getting covered health care covered.
They won't allow this for the horrible drug program and there is a LOT of out of pocket costs for seniors who get it. So seniors will pay for the drug plan and then a big copay and then 25% of the highest price for prescriptions up to about $2000 and 100% of cost from $2,000 to $5,000.

If they had just used the buying power to negotiate lower prices for those on Medicare, doing nothing else, seniors would save much more then they will under this plan and it would be at no cost to taxpayers.

I don't want to make the planners sound like uncaring scum. They did give an excellent reason when asked why seniors weren't allowed to buy coverage for the copay. They said if people get something for nothing they overuse it.
I'm assuming Congress plans to amend their own insurance coverage so they can pay...what would it be...for the first $5000 of prescription drugs about $500 would be paid for. They will pay for the insurance and then pay 4,500 dollars for the first 5,000 of their drugs like seniors will. Oh, except their insurance company can't get the lower rate they are now either. Because...people overuse what they get for free.

And really, like the drug companies say, developing medicine is hard work and those other countries discounts have to be made up for. So OF COURSE the pharmaceutical companies who only have the highest profit margin of any industry has to keep the obscene profit margin on the back of those who can least afford it, the retired, disabled and uninsured working poor.

I see I am off to a sarcastic start this morning. This program is a horror though and it PASSED.

Not the point of the article though...and I realize what the overcharging costs us all through taxes. It just doesn't take much to get me on the Medicare Drug plan rant.

[rodeodance]

5. yes, I know--and the AARP slept through it!!

[Sgent]

8. This is not entirely accurate

Although the feds are prevented from negotiating, the actual insurance companies who administer the program certainly can negotiate. There is no reason to believe that BC/BS will pay more for drugs for Medicare recipients than they pay for private inusreds.

[jbnow]

9. My post wasn't accurate

But that was the math. I went back to change it too late. (I said the plan would would pay $500 of the first $5000. It should have been $1,500)

But I am not sure what you mean. I googled some to see if something had been revised or if I had misunderstood. I'm still not clear.

As far as I can see...I don't know how the plan carriers savings would carry over to seniors. If mom is paying the 100% (once she reaches that coverage hole over $2,100) and she is still paying the monthly fee for it, are you saying she gets the lower insurance negotiated cost? Do you have any links?

[bleedingheart]

3. Lobbying by Big Pharma - Priceless

[fob]

6. "headed by Dr. Mark B. McClellan" - Not ANOTHER McClellan!

If he's a Snotty McClellan McClellan
then I'm gonna commence to Yellin'
If he ain't then he's still gonna have considerable redness and swellin'
Unless he stops sellin'
out for the buck

[Al-CIAda]

7. Taxpayer funded STEALING by big Pharma, approved by complicit traitors -n/