CBS4’s Jim DeFede sits down with Max Richtman, the President and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare to discuss the issue and what is needed to be done.
via CBS Miami.
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Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is working on a bipartisan plan to cap seniors’ expenses for prescription drugs in Medicare as part of a broader effort to lower drug prices.
Grassley told The Hill on Wednesday that one idea he is working on with Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), the top Democrat on the panel, is “some sort of maximum amount that one person would have to pay” for drugs.
via The Hill.
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According to AARP, the annual average cost of prescription drugs overall increased nearly 60% between 2012-2017, while Oregonians’ income increased only 14.8%. In 2017, nearly one quarter of the state’s residents rationed pills or skipped medications altogether. Oregon seniors who have suffered the consequences of soaring drug prices shared their stories at the Portland town hall.
Whether Congress will act this year to address the affordability of prescription drugs — a high priority among voters — remains uncertain. But states aren’t waiting.
So far this year, 33 states have enacted a record 51 laws to address drug prices, affordability and access. That tops the previous record of 45 laws enacted in 28 states set just last year, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy, a nonprofit advocacy group that develops model legislation and promotes such laws.
Among the new measures are those that authorize importing prescription drugs, screen for excessive price increases by drug companies and establish oversight boards to set the prices states will pay for drugs.
via Kaiser Health News.
Related Reading:
Medicare Must Be Allowed to Negotiate Drug Prices.
People are dying — or their quality of life is poor — because high drug prices are forcing seniors to go without life-saving medications. It’s time to end pharma’s drug price gouging. It’s time to stop forcing seniors to cut their pills in half or skip a dose. That’s why the National Committee urges the Senate to approve legislation that would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices.
Letter Supporting the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act.
High drug costs are burdening seniors and people with disabilities with excessive out-of-pocket expenses and straining the Medicare program’s finances. A recent study of 79 brand drugs without generic competition (and that accounted for the greatest spending on Medicare Part D) found that the U.S. pays 3 to 4 times more for these drugs than other countries do.
Medicare spent $97 billion on prescription drugs in 2014, accounting for more than a quarter of the nation’s spending on prescription medicines. Those numbers are expected to continue rising in coming years, as spending on the Part D benefit accelerates. Policymakers have put a number of proposals on the table to reduce the growth in Medicare drug spending and costs for beneficiaries, including a controversial proposal that would change the way Medicare pays for Part B drugs administered by doctors.
Related Reading:
Options for Implementing Medicare Drug Negotiation.
Letter to Senate Finance on High Drug Costs.
In this year’s presidential campaign, health care has taken a back seat. But one issue appears to be breaking through: the rising cost of prescription drugs.
via Kaiser Health News.
Related Reading:
When it comes to reining in high drug costs, the public supports a wide range of policy actions.
via Kaiser Health News.
Related Reading:
Options for Implementing Medicare Drug Negotiation.
- National polls show that most Americans, across party lines, support allowing the federal government to negotiate with drug companies as a way to bring down the cost of prescription drugs.
- At a time when policymakers are seeking ways to lower the federal deficit and overall health care spending, proposals that reduce Medicare prescription drug costs cannot be overlooked.
Read more from this issue brief by clicking here.
via twitter.
High prescription drug costs is a crisis for some seniors in America. We see some seniors cutting pills in order to save money which can be fatal.
We are asking Congress to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices.
Sign our petition by clicking here.
Rising drug prices continue to pummel the pocketbooks of seniors living on fixed incomes. Too many older Americans are still having to choose between groceries and medicine – or cutting pills in half.
via twitter.
Related Reading:
How the Affordable Care Act Helps Seniors.
The ACA provides new ways to help hospitals, doctors and other health care providers coordinate care for beneficiaries so that health care quality is improved and unnecessary spending reduced.
- Lower-Cost Prescription Drugs.
- Preventive Services and Annual Wellness Visit.
- Lower Medicare Part B Premiums.
- Medicare Fraud, Waste and Abuse.
Prescription drug spending has risen rapidly over the past decades. Adjusted for inflation, per capita spending on retail Rx drugs increased from $90 in 1960 to $1,025 in 2017.
Related Reading:
Letter Urging Cosponsoring of “The Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act”.
We support Congressman Doggett’s bill because it would allow the Secretary of Health & Human Services to directly negotiate prices for prescription drugs and issue a competitive license allowing other manufacturers to produce the drug for Medicare in the event negotiations fail.
Hill Democrats Get Tough on Big Pharma, Prescription Drug Prices.
Last week, Democrats introduced legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate prices directly with pharmaceutical companies. This week, the new chairman of a key House committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), announced an investigation into skyrocketing drug costs.