Getting Poor/Old People Drug Coverage: Part II

Yesterday, I mentioned that low-income individuals on Medicare can also qualify for Medicaid and, as full-beneift dual eligible beneficiaries, they have significantly lower cost sharing than the typical Part D beneficiary.  How does CMS identify these individuals? For currently beneficiaries on Medicaid who ‘age’ into Medicare, this process is fairly easy.  CMS can auto-enroll these…

Getting Poor/Old People Drug Coverage: Part I

Health insurers face a conundrum.  Increased cost sharing helps to reduce patient utilization of medical resources and–at least inititally–lowers the cost of care.  Too much cost sharing, however, can lead to decreased patient adherence.  In this case, the patients may get sick and require hospitalization,  which will actually increase cost.  Cost sharing’s affect on adherence…