Just days before President Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, the Clinton campaign announced her support for a controversial Obama administration proposal that could dramatically change seniors’ ability to obtain lifesaving drugs.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently proposed to experiment with the payment model for Medicare Part B that covers prescription drugs administered in a physician’s office to seniors, such as cancer medications and arthritis treatments. According to CMS, the purpose of this experiment is to test whether changing the way that Medicare reimburses physicians for these drugs affects physician and patient incentives and steers patients to drugs that are more effective or of better value.
The administration’s proposal is a response to the issue of high drug prices that has been in the news and a frequent topic on the 2016 presidential campaign trail. While it’s understandable that the administration would want to tackle this hot issue, its proposal depends more on potentially harmful government intervention than practical and sustainable solutions that will benefit patients and taxpayers.
If the Medicare Part B proposal is implemented nationwide, it could limit patients’ access to the drugs they need.
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