Addressing “Unintended Consequences” of Medicare Drug Pricing Change
Lowering drug costs for older adults is, of course, a paramount Medicare goal, especially for an aging population. Recent changes to Medicare drug pricing policies have altered the path to that goal, specifically in the reimbursement rates available to private physician offices and community clinics. When these reimbursement rates impose an excessive cost on the acquisition, storage, and administration of certain key, life-saving drugs, their availability to a vulnerable population is threatened, say the primary sponsors of the Protecting Patient Access to Cancer and Complex Therapies Act (H.R. 4299). With an objective of protecting “…patient access to lifesaving treatments and hold(ing) physicians harmless, while saving the Medicare program $3.3 billion over 10 years,” Reps. Greg Murphy, M.D. (R-NC) and Adam Gray (D-CA), aim to avoid a situation in which administration of life-saving medications becomes financially unsustainable. Read more on this topic here…