2/19/99 news of Medicare Proposal that might impact biotechs.
(At least, the cancer newsline at U Penn thought it was worth posting ...)
Premium support model could save Medicare up to $850 billion annually
nisc8a.upenn.edu
Some quoted excerpts from the above:
As reported by Reuters Health on January 25, Senator Breaux released a working document of the proposed changes to the Medicare program, which included a plan to convert the Medicare program to a premium support system based on the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. The system would mesh existing government protections with market-based competition.
The premium support system would replace Medicare's Part B premium and Medicare+Choice system. Under the system, beneficiaries whose incomes were 500% of the poverty level would pay extra premiums of 15% of a plan's cost, while beneficiaries with incomes between 300% and 500% of poverty would pay additional premiums based on a sliding scale.
The government's contribution to plans would depend on each plan's premiums compared with the national average.
The modified proposal circulated on Wednesday also includes coverage of prescription drugs in the benefit package under premium support. An analysis of the cost of this benefit is forthcoming, according to Senator Breaux.
The commission is scheduled to meet next Wednesday to review the proposal. The commission has a March 1 deadline to propose changes in the Medicare program to Congress.
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I think we all realize that -- except for specific, narrowly defined exceptions -- Medicare currently does NOT cover prescription drugs. (Greg and some of the docs on board could perhaps tell us about the exceptions. I've heard of one good one recently, and hope it would have implications for Targretin.)
I will ask Slade Gorton, Patty Murray, and Jennifer Dunn about their position (if any) about this issue, particularly the drug-benefit portion. I'll also poll Christine Gregoire, who will likely be running against Gorton.
Is anyone else interested in such issues? Or are they too far off thread, perhaps needing a separate thread ... ?
Cheryl |
