Download or read book Making Medicines Affordable written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2018-03-01 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thanks to remarkable advances in modern health care attributable to science, engineering, and medicine, it is now possible to cure or manage illnesses that were long deemed untreatable. At the same time, however, the United States is facing the vexing challenge of a seemingly uncontrolled rise in the cost of health care. Total medical expenditures are rapidly approaching 20 percent of the gross domestic product and are crowding out other priorities of national importance. The use of increasingly expensive prescription drugs is a significant part of this problem, making the cost of biopharmaceuticals a serious national concern with broad political implications. Especially with the highly visible and very large price increases for prescription drugs that have occurred in recent years, finding a way to make prescription medicinesâ€"and health care at largeâ€"more affordable for everyone has become a socioeconomic imperative. Affordability is a complex function of factors, including not just the prices of the drugs themselves, but also the details of an individual's insurance coverage and the number of medical conditions that an individual or family confronts. Therefore, any solution to the affordability issue will require considering all of these factors together. The current high and increasing costs of prescription drugsâ€"coupled with the broader trends in overall health care costsâ€"is unsustainable to society as a whole. Making Medicines Affordable examines patient access to affordable and effective therapies, with emphasis on drug pricing, inflation in the cost of drugs, and insurance design. This report explores structural and policy factors influencing drug pricing, drug access programs, the emerging role of comparative effectiveness assessments in payment policies, changing finances of medical practice with regard to drug costs and reimbursement, and measures to prevent drug shortages and foster continued innovation in drug development. It makes recommendations for policy actions that could address drug price trends, improve patient access to affordable and effective treatments, and encourage innovations that address significant needs in health care.

Download or read book Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage For Dummies written by Patricia Barry and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-11-24 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Confused about Medicare’s drug coverage? You’re not alone. Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage For Dummies explains Part D in plain English and shows you how to find the best deal among numerous drug-coverage plan options. Whether you’re new to Medicare or already in the program, you’ll navigate the system with more ease and confidence, avoid pitfalls and scams, and have plenty of help choosing the plan that’s right for you. This easy-to-understand, consumer-friendly guide helps you find out whether Part D affects any drug coverage you already have and weigh the consequences of going without coverage. You’ll find ways to compare plans, identify the one that covers your drugs at the least cost, and make sure you sign up at the right time. And you’ll learn how to minimize your expenses, use the “right” pharmacies, and troubleshoot any problems with your coverage. Discover how to: Decide whether you need Part D Understand how Part D works, from costs to coverage Choose and enroll in the best plan for you Get up and running with Part D Handle the coverage gap Lower your drug costs Join and switch plans Comply with long-term-care rules and rights Challenge plan decisions Avoid scams and hard-sell marketing Now, more than ever, you need clear, reliable information that helps you understand Part D and make smart, cost-saving healthcare decisions. You need Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage For Dummies.

Download or read book Issues in Designing a Prescription Drug Benefit for Medicare written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Pharmacy Benefits written by F. Randy Vogenberg and published by International Foundation of Employee benefit. This book was released on 2011 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pharmaceuticals have become an integral component of medical treatment, with some medications completely transforming health care outcomes and delivery. Drug therapy has been proven to reduce health care costs, increase productivity and enhance the quality of life for many people. When was the last time you examined the prescription drug component of your health care benefits? This primer offers factors to consider when designing or modifying pharmacy benefits, including the pros and cons of carving benefits into a health plan as well as carving them out as a separate prescription drug plan. A practical checklist is provided in almost every chapter to help you focus on important issues, including what questions to ask potential vendors.

Download or read book Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Benefit written by United States. Congress. Senate. Special Committee on Aging and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Issues in Designing a Prescription Drug Benefit for Medicare written by Congressional Budget Congressional Budget Office and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-11-15 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of lawmakers' highest health-related priorities is adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare. Although that program gives older Americans broad insurance coverage for many health needs, it provides only limited coverage of drugs not dispensed during a hospital stay. That gap in coverage has become increasingly significant as prescription drugs have assumed greater importance in the treatment of disease and as spending for outpatient prescription drugs has soared. Designing a Medicare drug benefit is a complex task, however. The competing goals for such a benefit mean that policymakers must make trade-offs (such as between broad coverage or widespread enrollment and cost). They must consider many different design elements and how those elements might interact. And they must try to avoid various problems that arise in creating such a benefit. Ultimately, the choices that designers make will affect not only the cost of the benefit but a host of other factors, such as demand for and prices of prescription drugs, spending by other federal and state programs, and how various parts of the market for health insurance operate. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has had to wrestle with those issues in recent years to produce cost estimates of the various Medicare drug proposals debated in the Congress. This study summarizes the main design choices facing policymakers and explores the implications of those choices for cost and coverage. To illustrate the effect of those choices on cost, it also discusses CBO's cost estimates for four proposals that represent a broad array of designs for a Medicare drug benefit. For the sake of simplicity, this study focuses on a standalone drug benefit-one that would be a freestanding addition to Medicare rather than part of a broad effort to restructure the program. Broad reform proposals raise important policy issues but ones that are beyond the scope of this analysis.

Download or read book Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage for Dummies written by Patricia Barry and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2008-10-28 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage For Dummies offers strategies to cut through the confusions of Part D, either for yourself or for someone you're helping. It explains the programs ins and outs in plain words. It shows you how to avoid or cope with pitfalls and suggests how you can lower your costs or find a better deal. Best of all, it convinces you that you can - yes, you can - handle Medicare Part D!

Download or read book The Risks of Prescription Drugs written by Donald Light and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few people realize that prescription drugs have become a leading cause of death, disease, and disability. Adverse reactions to widely used drugs, such as psychotropics and birth control pills, as well as biologicals, result in FDA warnings against adverse reactions. The Risks of Prescription Drugs describes how most drugs approved by the FDA are under-tested for adverse drug reactions, yet offer few new benefits. Drugs cause more than 2.2 million hospitalizations and 110,000 hospital-based deaths a year. Serious drug reactions at home or in nursing homes would significantly raise the total. Women, older people, and people with disabilities are least used in clinical trials and most affected. Health policy experts Donald Light, Howard Brody, Peter Conrad, Allan Horwitz, and Cheryl Stults describe how current regulations reward drug companies to expand clinical risks and create new diseases so millions of patients are exposed to unnecessary risks, especially women and the elderly. They reward developing marginally better drugs rather than discovering breakthrough, life-saving drugs. The Risks of Prescription Drugs tackles critical questions about the pharmaceutical industry and the privatization of risk. To what extent does the FDA protect the public from serious side effects and disasters? What is the effect of giving the private sector and markets a greater role and reducing public oversight? This volume considers whether current rules and incentives put patients' health at greater risk, the effect of the expansion of disease categories, the industry's justification of high U.S. prices, and the underlying shifts in the burden of risk borne by individuals in the world of pharmaceuticals. Chapters cover risks of statins for high cholesterol, SSRI drugs for depression and anxiety, and hormone replacement therapy for menopause. A final chapter outlines six changes to make drugs safer and more effective. Suitable for courses on health and aging, gender, disability, and minority studies, this book identifies the Risk Proliferation Syndrome that maximizes the number of people exposed to these risks. Additional Columbia / SSRC books on the privatization of risk and its implications for Americans: Bailouts: Public Money, Private ProfitEdited by Robert E. Wright Disaster and the Politics of InterventionEdited by Andrew Lakoff Health at Risk: America's Ailing Health System-and How to Heal ItEdited by Jacob S. Hacker Laid Off, Laid Low: Political and Economic Consequences of Employment InsecurityEdited by Katherine S. Newman Pensions, Social Security, and the Privatization of RiskEdited by Mitchell A. Orenstein

Download or read book Rare Diseases and Orphan Products written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-04-03 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rare diseases collectively affect millions of Americans of all ages, but developing drugs and medical devices to prevent, diagnose, and treat these conditions is challenging. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends implementing an integrated national strategy to promote rare diseases research and product development.

Download or read book Issues in Designing a Prescription Drug Benefit for Medicare written by Joseph Antos and published by . This book was released on 2002-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Medicare offers broad insurance protection for many health needs of the nation's elderly & disabled residents, but it provides no coverage for the costs of most outpatient prescription drugs (PD). As spending for those PD has soared in recent years, adding a PD benefit to Medicare has become a top health issue for lawmakers. This study discusses an approach to estimating the costs of various designs for a Medicare PD benefit. Describes the broad choices available to policymakers, some problems raised by particular design choices, & the implications of those choices for the cost of four specific proposals, which together cover a wide spectrum of approaches for delivering a Medicare PD benefit. Charts & tables.

Download or read book Medicare Prescription Drug Benefits written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means. Subcommittee on Health and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Prescription Drugs written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Seniors Access to Prescription Drug Benefits written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means. Subcommittee on Health and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Know Your Chances written by Steven Woloshin and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2008-11-30 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding risk -- Putting risk in perspective -- Risk charts : a way to get perspective -- Judging the benefit of a health intervention -- Not all benefits are equal : understand the outcome -- Consider the downsides -- Do the benefits outweight the downsides? -- Beware of exaggerated importance -- Beware of exaggerated certainty -- Who's behind the numbers?

Download or read book Description and Analysis of the VA National Formulary written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2000-10-03 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The VA National Formulary generated controversy, which motivated congressional scrutiny and a directive to the VA to commission this report reviewing the experience with the National Formulary and formulary system. This Institute of Medicine committee was pleased to assist the Congress with this review, in part because the committee saw in the VHA example an opportunity to understand and anticipate problems that all publicly funded programs are likely to encounter in this new age of pharmaceuticals. The Congress asked the committee to review the restrictiveness of the National Formulary, its impact on the costs and quality of care in the VHA, and how it compared to formularies and drug management practices in the private sector and in other public programs, especially Medicaid. Detailed in the pages that follow, the committee's findings and conclusions on these questions are, the committee believes, highly instructive, though not always in the ways that we anticipated.

Download or read book Powerful Medicines written by Jerry Avorn, M.D. and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2008-12-10 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you believe that the latest blockbuster medication is worth a premium price over your generic brand, or that doctors have access to all the information they need about a drug’s safety and effectiveness each time they write a prescription, Dr. Jerry Avorn has some sobering news. Drawing on more than twenty-five years of patient care, teaching, and research at Harvard Medical School, he shares his firsthand experience of the wide gap in our knowledge of the effectiveness of one medication as compared to another. In Powerful Medicines, he reminds us that every pill we take represents a delicate compromise between the promise of healing, the risk of side effects, and an increasingly daunting price. The stakes on each front grow higher every year as new drugs with impressive power, worrisome side effects, and troubling costs are introduced. This is a comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at issues that affect everyone: our shortage of data comparing the worth of similar drugs for the same condition; alarming lapses in the detection of lethal side effects; the underuse of life-saving medications; lavish marketing campaigns that influence what doctors prescribe; and the resulting upward spiral of costs that places vital drugs beyond the reach of many Americans. In this engagingly written book, Dr. Avorn asks questions that will interest every consumer: How can a product judged safe by the Food and Drug Administration turn out to have unexpectedly lethal side effects? Why has the nation’s drug bill been growing at nearly 20 percent per year? How can physicians and patients pick the best medication in its class? How do doctors actually make their prescribing decisions, and why do those decisions sometimes go wrong? Why do so many Americans suffer preventable illnesses and deaths that proper drug use could have averted? How can the nation gain control over its escalating drug budget without resorting to rationing or draconian governmental controls? Using clinical case histories taken from his own work as a practitioner, researcher, and advocate, Dr. Avorn demonstrates the impressive power of the well-conceived prescription as well as the debacles that can result when medications are misused. He describes an innovative program that employs the pharmaceutical industry’s own marketing techniques to reduce use of some of the most overprescribed and overpriced products. Powerful Medicines offers timely and practical advice on how the nation can improve its drug-approval process, and how patients can work with doctors to make sure their prescriptions are safe, effective, and as affordable as possible. This is a passionate and provocative call for action as well as a compelling work of clear-headed science.

Download or read book How Increased Competition from Generic Drugs Has Affected Prices and Returns in the Pharmaceutical Industry written by and published by U.S. Government Printing Office. This book was released on 1998 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: