Source:
Washington PostPrice Increase in Prescription Program Is Twice That Seen in Wholesale RatesAfter some initial success containing drug prices, private insurers in the new Medicare prescription drug program may be losing their leverage over drug manufacturers as they try to hold down medicine costs for seniors and the federal government, House investigators have found.
Prices for 10 of the most prescribed brand-name medications have shot up an average of 6.8 percent since December under Medicare private insurance plans, while wholesale prices for the same drugs have risen just 3 percent, House Oversight and Government Reform investigators say. The cost of a month's supply of cholesterol-controlling Lipitor had climbed 9.6 percent, to $84.27 in mid-April, from $76.91 in mid-December. Over the same time, list prices climbed 5 percent.
Premiums for Medicare drug plans have jumped 13 percent over the past year, when the drug plans went into effect, the investigators say.
And the rebates that insurance companies are wringing out of drug manufacturers are expected to total 4.6 percent of total drug costs, down from 5.2 percent last year. A year ago, Medicare actuaries had expected insurers in 2007 to secure manufacturers' rebates of 6 percent, then pass those savings on to seniors and the government.
Read more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/12/AR2007051201330.html
Oversight Committee aides said the panel's chairman, Rep. Henry A. Waxman will hold hearings in the coming weeks on rising drug prices under Medicare, as he seeks to revive legislation to grant the federal government the power to negotiate drug prices for Medicare. The bill has already passed the House, but it fell to a Republican filibuster in the Senate.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
