U.S. Health Spending Projections U.S. Health Spending Projections For 2004–2014
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Health Affairs: U.S. Health Spending Projections For 2004–2014
"By 2014, total health spending is projected to constitute 18.7 percent of gross domestic product, from 15.3 percent in 2003."
Gulp.
Medicaid's fee-for-service drug expenditures increased 18% per annum
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Medicaid’s Reimbursements to Pharmacies for Prescription Drugs (pdf)
This Congressional Budget Office report focuses on the markup paid to pharmacies by Medicaid for buying and dispensing drugs. For example, in 2002 medicaid reimbursed pharmacies an average of $46 per prescription. Of that amount, $14 was for purchase of the drug itself. The $32 difference constitutes the 'markup', which has been increasing at a rate of roughly 10% per year between 1997 and 2002.
" "Between fiscal years 1997 and 2002, Medicaid’s expenditures on prescription drugs in the fee-for-service part of the program increased from $10.2 billion to $23.4 billion. About one-quarter of those amounts went to wholesalers and pharmacies to compensate them for distributing and dispensing the drugs.
Prepared at the request of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, this paper examines recent trends in that “markup”—or the difference between the total amount that state Medicaid agencies paid to pharmacies and the amount that pharmacies and wholesalers paid to purchase the drugs from manufacturers. In keeping with the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO’s) mandate to provide objective, impartial analysis, the paper makes no recommendations. " "
and
" "Overall, the largest single factor contributing to the rapid increase in markups was the use of newer generic drugs, with their high markups. Another factor was the use of newer single-source brand-name drugs, which had somewhat higher average markups than did older brand-name drugs." "
Is Kerry Proposing Government Health Care?
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Medpundit opines:
""Any plan that expands Medicaid to include over 50% of the population - which is what the Kerry plan does - is a plan that involves government take-over of the healthcare system. There's just no getting around it.UPDATE: People are asking, "where does Kerry say he's going to put over 50% of the population on Medicaid?" His healthcare plan calls for expanding Medicaid coverage to children families that make up to 300% of the federal poverty level. According to the 2004 Federal Poverty Guidelines, 300% of the federal poverty level for a family of four would be a yearly income of $56,500. And according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median yearly income in 2003 for family households was $53,991. Assuming that the average family is a family of four, that means that over 50% of families would qualify for Medicaid. And believe me, employers won't foot the bill for healthcare insurance when they know their employees can get Medicaid. So a large segment of the population will be shifted to Medicaid, and that's a government healthcare program.""
New York Expands Drug Pricing Website
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New York Expands Drug Pricing Website:
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New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer rolled out an expanded version of his drug pricing Web site yesterday, hoping to assist those New Yorkers lacking health insurance or prescription drug benefits to comparison shop. From Long Island
Newsday:
The online reference guide includes the 25 most popular prescription drugs on the market, and, for the first time, has prices from pharmacies in all of the state’s 62 counties.
”With information from this Web site, consumers, especially seniors on fixed incomes, the uninsured and those lacking adequate prescription drug coverage, can comparison shop and keep their costs as low as possible,” Spitzer said in a prepared statement.
Under current New York State law, each pharmacy is required to carry an expanded version of this guide, known as the Drug Retail Price List, which covers nearly 150 prescription drugs, and customers are able to view it at any time.
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[Via The Medical Informatics Weblog]
