Future Medicare Premiums

[Amber]

A bit dated, here are some current data/ideas


Congress Should Not Undermine What Works in the Medicare Drug Benefit

By James C. Capretta
September 9, 2011

The Heritage Foundation isn't exactly a non-partisan source. Politico calls it a success, too.

But the 2008 US House of Reps Committee on Oversight and Government Reform report suggests pharmaceutical companies are (or were just a couple of years ago) making out like crazy with inflated drug prices as compared to standard Medicaid pricing for the same drugs.

This report uses confidential information on drug prices to compare the costs of drugs purchased
under the new Medicare Part D program with the costs of drugs purchased under traditional
Medicaid. It finds (1) that Medicare Part D pays on average 30% more for drugs than does
Medicaid and (2) that this discrepancy in pricing produced a windfall worth over $3.7 billion for
drug manufacturers in the first two years of the Medicare Part D program.

I'm not a huge fan of government intervention, but there have certainly been cases where when deregulation happened, it's the middle class that was screwed the hardest by it. Either way, blame is hardly something that can be laid at the feet of just Democrats or just Republicans.