Popular Medicare Drug Plans Are under Assault

National Center for Policy Analysis, February 20, 2014

A new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposal would cause almost 14 million seniors to lose their Medicare Part D stand-alone plans, says Devon Herrick, a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis.

The Medicare drug program has been popular, and the number of seniors without drug coverage has fallen 60 percent since the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) was passed in 2003. Seniors have a wide range of plans from which to choose, and drug spending has actually been much lower than projected. Costs per capita in 2013 were projected to be $3,047 but were actually only $1,846, a savings of 40 percent per enrollee.

Of the 39 million Americans enrolled in Medicare, 36 million of them have Medicare Part D drug plans.

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Proposed Medicare drug change stirs access worries

Washington Examiner, January 11, 2014

WASHINGTON — In a move that some fear could compromise care for Medicare recipients, the Obama administration is proposing to remove special protections that guarantee seniors access to a wide selection of three types of drugs.

The three classes of drugs — widely used antidepressants, antipsychotics and drugs that suppress the immune system to prevent the rejection of a transplanted organ — have enjoyed special "protected" status since the launch of the Medicare prescription benefit in 2006.

That has meant that the private insurance plans that deliver prescription benefits to seniors and disabled beneficiaries must cover "all or substantially all" medications in the class, allowing the broadest possible access. The plans can charge more for costlier drugs, but they can't just close their lists of approved drugs, or formularies, to protected medications.

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