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Prescription Drug Benefits

Journal Article

Medicare Prescription Benefit Program Has Exceeded Expectations

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.

Aug 1, 2009
Research Brief

When Drug Cost-Sharing Increases, Patients Newly Diagnosed with a Chronic Illness Delay Starting Medication

Describes a study showing that increasing copayments for prescription drugs causes patients newly diagnosed with hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes to delay starting treatment, which in turn increases their risk for heart attack and stroke.

Jun 29, 2009
Dissertation

Preserving Health among Vulnerable Populations: Three Essays

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.

Jun 23, 2009
Report

Questionable Estimates of Eligibility for Low-Income Subsidies Under Medicare Part D

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.

Apr 16, 2009
Journal Article

Psychometric Properties of an Instrument to Assess Medicare Beneficiaries' Prescription Drug Plan Experiences

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.

Jan 1, 2009
Journal Article

Insurer Bargaining and Negotiated Drug Prices in Medicare Part D

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.

Jan 1, 2009
News Release

Drug Cost Regulations Would Hurt Future Medical Innovation; Lower Copays a Better Option

Controlling prescription drug prices is one way to lower U.S. health costs, but it comes at a cost for future generations. While imposing European-style prescription drug price regulations in the United States would generate modest cost savings, it would impose a larger burden in the future by stifling medical innovation that can extend lives.

Dec 16, 2008
Commentary

A Better Way to Pay for Prescriptions

The pricing plans most people choose for their cell phones are simple: Pay one price and talk as much as you want. What if paying for your prescription drugs were as easy and appealing?, writes Dana P. Goldman.

Apr 19, 2008
News Release

Researchers Propose Consumers Buy Yearly 'Drug Licenses' as New Way to Pay for Prescriptions

Changing the way consumers pay for prescription drugs so that the system more closely resembles paying for cell phones or computer software could increase drug use without altering patients' out-of-pocket spending, health plan costs or drug company profits.

Jan 21, 2008
Journal Article

A Better Way to Pay for Prescriptions

The pricing plans most people choose for their cell phones are simple: Pay one price and talk as much as you want. What if paying for your prescription drugs were as easy and appealing?

Jan 1, 2008
Journal Article

Consumers Could Buy Yearly `Drug Licenses' As New Way to Pay for Prescriptions

Changing the way consumers pay for prescription drugs so that the system more closely resembles paying for cell phones or computer software could increase drug use without altering patients' out-of-pocket spending, health plan costs or drug company profits.

Jan 1, 2008
Journal Article

Strategies for Identifying and Channeling Patients for Depression Care Management

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.

Jan 1, 2008
News Release

Prescription Spending Caps Cause Some Seniors to Quit Taking Medicines for Chronic Illnesses

Many seniors quit taking drugs for chronic illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure when they exceed their drug plan's yearly spending limits.

Sep 11, 2007
Research Brief

A Look inside the "Doughnut Hole": How Drug-Benefit Limits Affect Retiree Prescription Use

This research brief examines the likely effects of the gap in the Medicare Part D standard drug benefit after $2,400 in pharmaceutical spending, using data from a private employer.

Sep 11, 2007
Research Brief

A Systematic Review of the Adverse Effects of Prescription Drug Cost Sharing

This fact sheet summarizes a systematic review of published studies to analyze how the cost-sharing features of prescription drug benefits may affect access to prescription drugs and, consequently, health outcomes.

Sep 11, 2007
News Release

RAND Presents Research Award to Economists from Carnegie Mellon University

The RAND Corporation has presented the first Victor R. Fuchs Research Award to a team from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh for publishing the best research paper with the potential to spawn new research in an underdeveloped area of health economics or health policy.

Jul 26, 2007
Journal Article

Effect of Disease Management on Prescription Drug Treatment: What Is the Right Quality Measure?

The authors hypothesize that DM improves adherence to prescriptions more than the rate with which prescriptions are being filled.

Apr 1, 2007
Journal Article

Drug Spending Caps Cause Some Seniors to Quit Taking Key Medicines

Many seniors quit taking drugs for chronic illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure when they exceed their drug plan's yearly spending limits. Even when drug benefits resume at the start of a new health plan year, a significant number do not resume their prescription medications.

Jan 1, 2007
Journal Article

Prescription Drug Cost Sharing: Associations with Medication and Medical Utilization and Spending and Health

Prescription drugs are instrumental to managing and preventing chronic disease.

Jan 1, 2007
Journal Article

Prescription Drug Coverage and Elderly Medicare Spending

The introduction of Medicare Part D has generated interest in the cost of providing drug coverage to the elderly.

Jan 1, 2007

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