Medicare's new adventure: the Part D drug benefit
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Author(s):
- Hoadley, Jack, author
- Contributor(s):
- Commonwealth Fund. Commission on a High Performance Health System. Commonwealth Fund.
- Publication:
- [New York, N.Y.] : Commonwealth Fund, March 2006
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Insurance, Pharmaceutical Services Medicare Cost Sharing Health Benefit Plans, Employee Insurance Coverage Marketing of Health Services Medicaid United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- The government faces many challenges in implementing the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. First among them is overseeing the enrollment of millions of beneficiaries into private plans, including shifting those currently relying on Medicaid coverage to Medicare drug plans. Medicare must also ensure that plan formularies provide beneficiaries with access to the drugs they need. The drug benefit has the potential to provide prescription coverage for beneficiaries who currently lack it--particularly low-income beneficiaries, who can receive subsidies that minimize their out-of-pocket costs. Ultimately, the program's success will be judged by whether beneficiaries enroll in plans that meet their needs and whether the program's costs are held within reasonable limits. If it fails to meet public expectations, Congress will have the added challenge of making mid-course corrections.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (iv, 23 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101273538 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101273538