QDIS Blog

There has been a lot of talk about what effect the Democratically controlled congress will have on the pharmaceutical industry particularly with regard to Medicare.

Dems take middle ground on drug plan - Yahoo! News:

The new plan seems to steer away from a totally government run program and instead concentrate on government-negotiated prices. This is indeed on the Democratic agenda but no real details have been offered yet.

While this may be a better idea than their previous position, it still might be divisive enough to cause a ruckus. I tend to think their are other issues of more importance than getting caught up in this debate at this time.

Mark Senak at Eye on the FDA blog had a link to a great article by Kip Piper entitled “Should Federal Government Negotiate Prescription Drug Prices in Medicare: Emotions versus Economics; Politics versus Facts”. Kip Piper is indeed a leading authority on health care with a focus on Medicare and Medicaid unlike other bloggers who have no background in public healthcare policy (and I include myself in this category). I found this article quite enlightening and it has moved me away from government negotiation. I’m still waiting until the programs has been around long enough to see how much of an impact it will have and come to a more informed position. A recent poll I saw said that 80% of those enrolled in Medicare part D are happy with the program so it’s hard to justify any major changes. There is more of a danger in angeingr folks than there is in increasing the percent who are pleased with the program.

Technorati Tags: drug price, Medicare

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