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Study identifies flaws in Medicare prescription drug program
Date:10/28/2010

Millions of Medicare recipients have been forcibly reassigned to different prescription drug plans because Part D reimbursements to insurance companies covering low-income patients are lower than the actual costs incurred, according to a study released online today by Health Affairs. The report describes how a system designed to encourage competition and to subsidize care for low-income Medicare patients instead has led companies to raise their premiums in an effort to price themselves out of the low-income segment of the Part D market.

"These insufficient payments create a perverse incentive for plans to avoid or shed low-income patients," says John Hsu, MD, of the Mongan Institute for Health Policy (IHP) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), lead author of the study. "Millions of our poorest elderly have been reassigned to different drug plans since the program began. These patients often have limited income and multiple medical conditions requiring several medications, so they can ill afford the turmoil associated with changing drug plans."

Medicare Part D prospectively pays private insurance companies to provide prescription drug coverage. That payment is risk-adjusted based on each patient's diagnoses during the prior year. Most Medicare patients choose their own Part D plan from available options and pay an individual premium in addition to the amount paid by Medicare. For low-income patients, Medicare fully or partially subsidizes premiums and copayments and also assigns these patients to one of the least expensive available plans. Low-income patients tend to need more prescription drugs, so Medicare's payments to the companies are increased by 8 percent for fully subsidized patients and 5 percent for partially subsidized patients.

Hsu explains, "The original hope was that private plans would compete for all Medicare patients by lowering premiums or at least limiting premium increases. The lower-cost plans woul
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Contact: Sue McGreevey
smcgreevey@partners.org
617-724-2764
Massachusetts General Hospital
Source:Eurekalert

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