Bush administration proposes cut in Medicare payments for cancer drugs

[Judi Lynn]

Bush administration proposes cut in Medicare payments for cancer drugs


By MARK SHERMAN
The Associated Press
7/27/04 10:17 AM


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration proposed cutting Medicare payment rates Tuesday for doctors providing cancer treatment in their offices, projecting savings of $530 million amid concerns that some specialists would reduce their practices.

Medicare chief Mark McClellan said the government is paying far too much for cancer drugs administered in doctors' offices -- up to 50 percent more than typical sales prices for some medicines used to treat prostate cancer. The changes, to take place in 2005, would make payments competitive with prices negotiated by other health plans, he said.

Cancer specialists' revenues could decline 2 percent to 8 percent, McClellan said.

Drugs dispensed in doctors' offices to treat lung illnesses, for which Medicare pays 90 percent more than the actual sales price, also would be affected by the proposed changes, he said.
(snip/...)

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?f0069_BC_PrescriptionDrugs&&news&newsflash-financial

[HuckleB]

1. Any response from "awesome" Lance Armstrong on this one?

One wonders if this announcement wasn't timed to come a couple days after the Tour de France ended, that's for sure.

[LynneSin]

2. Great, we'll just let them die with cancer - oxycontin is cheap

:eyes:

[drdtroit]

3. Compassionate Conservatism!

[Occulus]

4. Do these FUCKERS ***WANT*** us to die??????

This decision is a killer. Literally.

[Walt Starr]

6. Come on, free enterprise RULES

We can't have poor people outliving their usefulness now, can we?

/corporatewhoredom

[havocmom]

7. Yep, if you are so sick that you are not working to make their pals richer

and you are so poor that you cannot afford all your medical bills (and who isn't) then you are of no use to them. I am of no use to them. We are of no use for them unless we have resources,either energy or money, they can relieve us of. If we are no use to them, they want us gone. It is a s simple as that.

THEY ARE CANCER. They take resources for their own propagation and give nothing of value back. THEY ARE CANCER.

[shanti]

10. what do YOU think?

it seems pretty obvious, doesn't it. add this up with all the other things they do/don't do to us, and it's glaringly apparent.

[indepat]

13. Just another example of compassionate conservatism at its best

[leQ]

5. actually, i see a silver lining here

maybe it'll be a wake up call for medicare to get on the damn bandwagon and stop paying such outlandish prices. there's absolutely no reason in hell why medicare should be having to pay 90% more than the average consumer. the problem is accountability. doctors (and most industry bean counters) know how to work the system, and they're using every trick in the book to do so. the stories my sister told me made my hair catch on fire and solidified my reasoning for why healthcare costs are out of control.

greed. pure and simple greed.

there's a saying, and i'm not sure if it holds water or not, but if the drug companies were again banned from advertising on tv, the money saved could fund healthcare for every uninsured American for 5 years. pill makers have no business marketing prescription drugs to consumers. plain and simple.

[HuckleB]

11. What?

Where in the world do you get that Medicare is paying 90 percent more than the average consumer for anything?

Give me a break.

This comes from the Administration that refused to allow Medicare to make better deals with Pharmaceutical companies, so seniors could get rates more in line with those available in Canada. Sorry, but your post is simply bizarre and lacking context.

[leesa]

12. This is, of course BS. They make junk claims like this and then

do everything in their power to maximize the outrageous profits of the pharmaceutical companies. In addition to TV ads, do you know that their budgets also include feeding the entire staffs of every cancer center in the country and probably the world nearly every day. The drug companies also throw lavish parties continuously. Then turn around and complain that drugs cost too much.

This is just BS and the corporate whores in the pharm companies and the HMOs, etc are literally making a killing.

[Sivafae]

8. I think this is where it gets wonky...

There have been cases where hospitals are gouging Medicare. But I don't think it is a rule of thumb. See the words "up to"? That is just a scare tactic. This reporter didn't give his sources, or at least that I could tell, the link didn't work for me.
The person that will be most affected are the ones that are attending hospitals that don't gouge their customers.

[Judi Lynn]

9. I'll try to get that link to work

Maybe this will do it:

~~~~ link ~~~~

Hope it'll work this time, finally. Sorry for the inconvenience.