Officials said Saturday that the White House, lawmakers and the pharmaceutical industry had struck a deal to have drug companies pay $80 billion to help narrow a gap in coverage in the prescription drug program for Medicare. The officials said that the agreement would have drug companies pay part of the cost of brand name drugs for lower and middle-income older people in the "doughnut hole." That term refers to a feature of the current drug program that requires beneficiaries to pay the entire cost of prescriptions after initial coverage is exhausted but before catastrophic coverage begins.
Obama seized on the deal as evidence that his efforts are gaining momentum.
"Key sectors of the health care industry acknowledge what American families and businesses already know — that the status quo is no longer sustainable," the president said, and noted: "We are at a turning point in America's journey toward health care reform."
So drug and biotech companies are finally being permitted what they wanted to do all along but were banned from doing -- giving seniors a discount to give them a seamless drug benefit. That makes sense since the decision about what drug to take should be what works, not the price or cost. At least that is what the evidence says. And making that decision on clinical evidence leads to value based benefit designs which focus on overall health outcomes...
All to the good. And the rationale, in part, to Medicare Advantage pay more for prescription drugs.
But what is Obama proposing to fill the nearly $2 trillion gap to shove 25 million people into public health plans.
"Obama has proposed cuts in Medicare spending on hospitals, prescription drugs and other services, but a political consensus is far from certain."
He has proposed eliminating Medicare advantage, which has primarliy benefited the chronically ill and minorities... Leaving them with what?
So just as the private sector provides seniors with a solution that moves us towards a preventive approach to health care Obama is pillaging the one part of Medicare that provides just that to prop up a health plan that cannot even support paying for preventive care....
The cynicism is breathtaking and the mainstream media is too busy fawning to take note. Real health care reform is within reach but not the way the President wants to take us...
Read article here.
Did you ever think you would see this come to pass...
