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Physician Suggests Ways To Fix Medicare Part D

Twenty seven million individuals were enrolled in Medicare Part D as of December 2009. The government spent $51 billion to subsidize Medicare Part D in 2009. The $51 billion spent is in addition to seniors’ premiums and co-pays. The government subsidy was $1,889 per individual subscriber.

Who is making the money?

“A provision in the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA), known as the “noninterference” provision, expressly prohibits the Medicare program (the government) from directly negotiating lower prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers.”

This was a gift to the healthcare insurance industry by the government as a result of intense lobbying efforts.

Over 300 private plans (Medicare Plan D sponsors) enter into negotiations with pharmaceutical manufacturers separately to deliver Medicare Part D benefits.

Medicare Part D eligible seniors are forced to deal with Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Repairing the Healthcare System*

One Doctor’s Fight To Get His Patient The Right Medication

“Doc, I’ve got good news and bad news.”

“What’s that?”

“Well, I’ve lost six more pounds!”

“Wonderful! What’s the bad news?”

“Well, you know that new-fangled drug you gave me that works so well for my atrial fibrillation?”

“Yes.”

“We’ll, I’m part of that AARP Medicare Advantage Part D drug plan, and I just got the “partial” approved drug list for 2010 in the mail. My drug’s not on the list, so I called and found the drug’s been moved from a Tier II drug to a Tier III drug. That means it will cost me twice what I paid for it this year. That’s gonna be tough, doc. I can’t afford it.

But I also read that if you call this ‘800’ number and speak to them, they’ll allow me to obtain an exemption to keep the drug on Tier II for next year.” Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*

Latest Interviews

IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

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How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

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Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

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