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Will the New Medicare Drug Plan Actually Hold Down the Costs of Drugs?
Everyone agrees the Medicare program cannot sustain itself beyond the year 2030 without some sort of intervention on keeping costs down. The Obama administration is trying a series of experimental changes in the hope it will reduce the costs of treating patients and saving Medicare and patients money.
One of the experimental changes is being tested in selected areas is an effort to try to rein in the costs of drugs that are paid under Medicare Part B coverage. Currently Part B pays the average sales price of a drug plus a 6% add-on to cover the cost of care for physicians and their staff. The new model will pay the average sales price of the drug while only paying 2.5% add-on, plus a flat fee payment of $16.80 per drug per day. But will this really reduce the costs? Read the article here…