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Higher Copays Seen For Medicare Brandname Drugs

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR   11/16/11 05:15 PM ET    

WASHINGTON -- With three weeks left for seniors to change their Medicare prescription plan for 2012, a new study brings distressing news: Copays for brand-name drugs are going up – sharply in some cases.

Copays for preferred brand-name drugs will increase by 40 percent on average next year, and non-preferred brands will average nearly 30 percent more, according to the study by Avalere Health. Copays are the portion of the cost of each prescription that the customer pays the pharmacy.......................>>>>>........................>>>>.............................http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/17/medicare-brandname-drugs-copays_n_1099389.html

Health-Care law is certainly saving us a lot of money, not.

Quoted from Shadow

Health-Care law is certainly saving us a lot of money, not.

I think the Medicare Drug Plan you are referring to is the George Worst Bush plan... "The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act" that George Worst Bush signed  into law in 2003.  It's about as effective and screwed up as most Bush policy.

Obama care is not part of this plan.

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Blum pointed out that President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law is saving money for beneficiaries with high drug costs, providing a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs for those who fall into Medicare's "doughnut hole" coverage gap.

My wife receives Part A,B and D coverage through Medicare.  Her monthly premium is $144, plus medicare B costs.  We're STILL putting out >$1100/month in the pharmacy.   Drug prices are so elevated - and have been for the past 2-3 years, that even 50% isn't a significant help.

Part of the reason, IMHO, for the high drug costs is the fact that drug makers are taking out multi-page full color ads in nearly every magazine imaginable, 30-45second tv commercials FREQUENTLY, and other high marketing costs.  If they'd cut down on advertising I'm sure that'd let the cost of prescriptions, for those that really need them, come down significantly.

Drug prices are out of this world.

Add to that, the marketing that practically convinces you that you've got the disease/ailment that requires this drug (no matter what the chances of stroke, heart attack, death) - that you'll run to your doctor and beg them to prescribe it - name brand.  No wonder the insurance companies are raking in more profits than Exxon/Mobil and GE.

This is what happens when government tries to take over what the private sector could do. Just like the post office that is going bankrupt. Just like social security and medicaid! Just like the housing market. Just like the federal reserve.

They should have just allowed health insurance companies to become more competitive by allowing them to cross ALL state lines. Just like they do for car/homeowners/life insurance. If the stock market is made up of 'global' companies....then the health care industry should have it's boarders removed to allow for competition that would lead to lower prices. Hell, let's make health insurance companies competitive 'globally'!!

CBO Reveals That ObamaCare Will INCREASE Prescription Drug Prices

It’s getting harder and harder to find something about ObamaCare that turns out not to have been a complete load of crap.

    U.S. Rep. Ryan: CBO confirms Obamacare will increase drug prices
    11/4/2010

    In letter to Ranking Member Ryan, CBO highlights the latest health care broken promise

    WASHINGTON – In response to a request from House Budget Committee Ranking Republican Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the Congressional Budget Office [CBO] confirmed that President Obama’s massive health care law will increase prescription drug prices. The CBO confirms the range of onerous restrictions and requirements will drive health care costs up, at odds with the claims made by its proponents. CBO’s letter specifies that manufacturers will have an incentive to raise drug prices and that, as a result, health care costs will increase for some seniors and for those who are uninsured.

    In response to the findings, Ranking Member Ryan issued the following statement:

    “On Tuesday, the American electorate forcefully repudiated President Obama’s agenda, including his massive health care overhaul. Today, the Congressional Budget Office refuted President Obama’s claims, making clear that his policies will drive health care costs up, not down. Especially troubling for many seniors is the news that their prescription drug costs and premiums will increase as a result of this legislation. I will continue to work to repeal this deeply flawed overhaul, advancing instead patient-centered health care reform and reforms to secure Medicare for current and future generations.”

    Highlights from the CBO’s letter to Ranking Member Ryan:

    “[The] increase in prices would make federal costs for Medicare’s drug benefit and the costs faced by some beneficiaries slightly higher than they would be in the absence of those provisions…”

    “The legislation also imposes an annual fee on manufacturers and importers of brand-name drugs. CBO expects that the fee will probably increase the prices of drugs purchased through Medicare and the prices of newly introduced drugs purchased through Medicaid and other federal programs by about 1 percent. Those increases will be in addition to the ones described above that stem from the new requirements for discounts and rebates.”

    “The premiums of drug plans will increase along with the increase in net drug prices, so the premiums paid by beneficiaries will increase slightly.”

    To read CBO Director Doug Elmendorf’s Letter to Ranking Member Paul Ryan:

    http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/116xx/doc11674/11-04-Drug_Pricing.pdf

Quoted from Shadow

CBO Reveals That ObamaCare Will INCREASE Prescription Drug Prices

It’s getting harder and harder to find something about ObamaCare that turns out not to have been a complete load of crap.

    U.S. Rep. Ryan: CBO confirms Obamacare will increase drug prices
    11/4/2010

    In letter to Ranking Member Ryan, CBO highlights the latest health care broken promise

    WASHINGTON – In response to a request from House Budget Committee Ranking Republican Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the Congressional Budget Office [CBO] confirmed that President Obama’s massive health care law will increase prescription drug prices. The CBO confirms the range of onerous restrictions and requirements will drive health care costs up, at odds with the claims made by its proponents. CBO’s letter specifies that manufacturers will have an incentive to raise drug prices and that, as a result, health care costs will increase for some seniors and for those who are uninsured.

    In response to the findings, Ranking Member Ryan issued the following statement:

    “On Tuesday, the American electorate forcefully repudiated President Obama’s agenda, including his massive health care overhaul. Today, the Congressional Budget Office refuted President Obama’s claims, making clear that his policies will drive health care costs up, not down. Especially troubling for many seniors is the news that their prescription drug costs and premiums will increase as a result of this legislation. I will continue to work to repeal this deeply flawed overhaul, advancing instead patient-centered health care reform and reforms to secure Medicare for current and future generations.”

    Highlights from the CBO’s letter to Ranking Member Ryan:

    “[The] increase in prices would make federal costs for Medicare’s drug benefit and the costs faced by some beneficiaries slightly higher than they would be in the absence of those provisions…”

    “The legislation also imposes an annual fee on manufacturers and importers of brand-name drugs. CBO expects that the fee will probably increase the prices of drugs purchased through Medicare and the prices of newly introduced drugs purchased through Medicaid and other federal programs by about 1 percent. Those increases will be in addition to the ones described above that stem from the new requirements for discounts and rebates.”

    “The premiums of drug plans will increase along with the increase in net drug prices, so the premiums paid by beneficiaries will increase slightly.”

    To read CBO Director Doug Elmendorf’s Letter to Ranking Member Paul Ryan:

    http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/116xx/doc11674/11-04-Drug_Pricing.pdf

The entire health care industry is in the process of or have completed the changes required by the new government health care system. If anyone doesn't think this increase is not a direct result of obamacare, they need to sit down and talk with health facility CEO'S and pharmacies and doctors. If it was profitable, Glendale home would have broken ground by now. It will be unsustainable under obama care. The entire health care system will boil down to less(restrictive) health care with less staff. If anyone is being medically treated, they can see the change already. We have and so have our friends and family members.

Free up the private insurance companies and let them be competitive nationwide.

Eg....remember when the Kindle first came out? Only the flushed could buy it. When other companies created their own....Kindle's price spiraled down. Same with iPhones.  

Why can't health insurance providers compete nationwide?

The reason they will save money with the new Health-Care Law is through rationing of care to high use groups like seniors and those with incurable illnesses. It's all aimed at a government provided health care system even though it's failed everywhere it's been tried.

The reason they will save money with the new Health-Care Law is through rationing of care to high use groups like seniors and those with incurable illnesses. It's all aimed at a government provided health care system even though it's failed everywhere it's been tried. They will try to blame Bush for the next 100 years so that the progressives won't have to take responsibility for their failures.

Quoted from bumblethru

This is what happens when government tries to take over what the private sector could do. Just like the post office that is going bankrupt. Just like social security and medicaid! Just like the housing market. Just like the federal reserve.

They should have just allowed health insurance companies to become more competitive by allowing them to cross ALL state lines. Just like they do for car/homeowners/life insurance. If the stock market is made up of 'global' companies....then the health care industry should have it's boarders removed to allow for competition that would lead to lower prices. Hell, let's make health insurance companies competitive 'globally'!!

What a good idea...
Global Competitive Health Care Insurance Companies...

(Kind of like the big oil companies that lower prices because of Global Competition)     
Better rethink that idea!

Quoted from Shadow

The reason they will save money with the new Health-Care Law is through rationing of care to high use groups like seniors and those with incurable illnesses. It's all aimed at a government provided health care system even though it's failed everywhere it's been tried. They will try to blame Bush for the next 100 years so that the progressives won't have to take responsibility for their failures.

If there is a problem with the Medicare Drug Plan... Blame G Worst Bush.  It's his plan.

Because of the way the health care law is set up all prescription drugs are going up. The new bill forces drug companies to pay back 80% of money made back into medicine so the profit is trimmed,  the drug companies can't make enough money on a drug they stop making it. Supply goes down price goes up. Unforeseen consequences of the regulations passed.

HEALTH INSURANCE IS NOT HEALTH CARE

insurance is a BUSINESS that we have allowed to take over our brains/bodies/security.....then we all sit here and whine about it.....healthcare starts with ourselves FIRST...insurance doesn't mean you are any healthier than anyone else
look at Moore....

have you ever seen so many fat poor folk? why? BAD CHOICES....

humans always pick the road most traveled and with the least resistence....we may have reasoning but the 'animal' in us is still strong.....

a lion or a cheetah always pick the weakling to kill and eat.....humans pick insurance and say 'yup' to everything....except the MD whom they question and when the patient wants to deviate from the MD the insurance doesn't cover so instead
of helping themselves they just say 'yup' the easy cheap way.

I'm not saying health insurance should be so costly, but we fail to realise that they are a business and their dividends support pensions/401k's etc...so they gamble with us and we allow them to....even if the government takes over
the money has to come from somewhere....where do we think it will come from?

eventually the 'reasoning' in the human brain will say "I'm tired of paying these government health insurance fees to support folks that dont even make an effort" OR "why are we wasting resources on folks like that(age,disease etc)"

right now you have a chance to spend your time fixing your ailment yourself or we can just be on the government train and get off at the stop they tell us to(and it depends on who is in charge, you know the 1%)

Quoted from Shadow

Because of the way the health care law is set up all prescription drugs are going up. The new bill forces drug companies to pay back 80% of money made back into medicine so the profit is trimmed,  the drug companies can't make enough money on a drug they stop making it. Supply goes down price goes up. Unforeseen consequences of the regulations passed.

Drugs will go up because this is the deal that the government made to the lobbying drug companies. It's all about the $$$$. Not about our health care. And if anyone believes that it is....I have a bridge to no where to sell ya!