Since 2006, Medicare Part D has provided prescription drug coverage through Medicare, a federally sponsored health care program. RAND has conducted research to assess the impact of Medicare Part D, gauge the effect of enrollment levels, and examine how the program has influenced innovation.
REPORT
Provides insights into the costs and challenges of providing health care to the elderly population.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Regional variation in Medicare Part D spending for prescription drugs results largely from differences in the cost of drugs selected rather than prescription volume.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This article uses matched survey and administrative data to estimate, as of 2006, the size of the population eligible for the Low-Income Subsidy (LIS), which was designed to provide "extra help" with premiums, deductibles, and copayments for Medicare Part D beneficiaries with low income and limited assets.
RESEARCH BRIEF
Describes the effects that prescription drug cost sharing has on drug spending, compliance with drug therapy, patient health, and overall health care costs.
REPORT
Investigates two mechanisms by which governments may influence pharmaceutical research and development priorities: (1) public funding for life sciences research; and (2) prescription drug insurance, as in Medicare Part D.
NEWS RELEASE
The program created to provide Medicare recipients with prescription drug benefits exceeded expectations during its first two years, extending pharmacy coverage to most seniors while reducing their overall spending on drugs.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
The program created to provide Medicare recipients with prescription drug benefits exceeded expectations during its first two years, extending pharmacy coverage to most seniors while reducing their overall spending on drugs.
REPORT
In 2003, Congress added a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare program known as Part D and a Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) for some Part D beneficiaries. About 29 percent were eligible for the LIS in 2006 but there is considerable uncertainty around this estimate.
REPORT
This dissertation consists of three stand-alone essays that focus on the economics of preserving health among vulnerable population, specifically chronic ill and elderly population.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
The authors test whether insurers that experience larger enrollment increases due to Medicare Part D negotiate lower drug prices with pharmacies. Overall, the authors find that 100,000 additional insureds lead to 2.5-percent lower pharmacy prices negotiated by the insurer, and 5-percent reductions in pharmacy profits earned on prescriptions filled by enrollees of that insurer.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Using data from 335,249 Medicare beneficiaries who responded to the 2007 Medicare Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey, along with data from 22 cognitive interviews, the authors investigated the reliability and validity of an instrument designed to assess beneficiaries' experiences with their prescription drug plans.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
A multi-pronged effort composed of mail screening (using the PHQ-2), self-reported antidepressant use, and claims diagnoses of depression may capture the greatest number of chronically ill Medicare enrollees with possible depression.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Clinicians can find it difficult to know which drugs are covered for their Medicare patients because formularies vary widely among Medicare Part D plans and many states have 50 or more such plans.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
The introduction of Medicare Part D has generated interest in the cost of providing drug coverage to the elderly.
PEOPLE
Codirector, UCLA/RAND Health Services Research Training Program
Ph.D. in economics, City University of New York; M.P.P., University of Michigan; B.A., Connecticut College
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