Walmart is the low-price leader

…at least when it comes to prescription drugs.  Health Pocket reports that the lowest cost Part D plan is the Humana/Walmart RX plan which charges a monthly premium of $12.60.  In 2013, AARP MedicareRX Saver Plus from UnitedHealthcare was the lowest cost plan and charged a premium of $15.  In 2014, however, the monthly premium…

Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Enrollment Trends in 2013

According to research from Avalere, Medicare beneficiaries are overwhelmingly choosing low-cost Part D prescription drug plans . In 2013, more than 500,000 beneficiaries enrolled in the brand new AARP Saver Plus plan—catapulting it to a position in the top 10 list of plans in its first year. With the addition of Humana/Walmart and First Health Part D Value Plus, nearly 3 million beneficiaries are choosing low-premium plans with preferred…

How to drop the individual mandate and avoid the collapse of the private health insurance market

Today, the Supreme Court is deciding  whether to let many of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. ACA, a.k.a. Health Reform, a.k.a. Obamacare) stand.  One of the key provisions is the individual mandate.  The individual mandate requires all individuals to purchase health insurance.  If you don’t buy health insurance, you must pay a…

Optimal Choices of Medicare Part D Plans

Are elderly Medicare beneficiaries able to choose Part D health plans optimally?  Many researchers may believe the answer is no.  Certain elderly individuals  (e.g., those with Alzheimer’s) may be cognitively impaired.  Inertia is also a problem; switching plans is mentally taxing and involves a spending a significant amount of time researching plan alternatives. Nevertheless, a…

Does Prescription Drug Coverage Save Money?

Many experts have claimed that increasing Medicare beneficiary’s access to prescription drugs through Medicare Part D is cost saving.  Even if it does increase cost, by increasing patient adherence to various prescription drugs, Medicare could prevent certain expensive hospitalizations and emergency room visits. The only problem is that it doesn’t. According to Liu et al.…

Trends in Medicare Part D

Recent research from Avalere Health, LLC using Medicare Part D reveals some interesting trends.  Overall, premiums for fee-for-service prescription drug plans (PDPs) increased by 3%.  For beneficiaries who enrolled in a Top 10 plan, however, premiums actually decreased by 6%.  This result was driven by a 12% decrease in premiums for the largest PDP, AARP…

Medication Therapy Management

Recently, the N.Y. Times, ran a story on medication therapy management programs (MTMPs).  These programs typically involve either face-to-face or over-the-phone sessions between pharmacists and patients in retail stores or clinics.  For example, insurance plans pay pharmacists to track patients, monitor cholesterol or blood glucose levels, and prod customers to change their diets or exercise. …

Medicare Part D data available

For researchers interested in studying the Medicare prescription drug benefit, CMS has claims data for Medicare Part D.  Academy Health also has a useful powerpoint presentation giving some more information regarding Medicare Part D and what information is available as part of the CMS Medicare Part D claims data.

Choosing a Medicare Part D plan

As I noted in an earlier post, choosing a Medicare part D plan is difficult.  However, there are resources to help people choose a Medicare Part D plan based on which prescriptions they are taking and where they live.  Medicare has its own Personalized Plan Search.  The private sector also has come up with user-friendly…