Take a look at the Medicare reimbursement system, and you’ll see a potentially dark future if the government is able to negotiate drug prices:
As senators weigh the merits of such an approach, they should keep in mind that the Medicare physician payment system””a combination of administrative pricing and price controls””is a mess. It should serve as a warning. Administrative pricing for more than 7,000 physicians’ services has failed to reduce Medicare spending, lacks the proper incentives to promote value, and threatens personal choice and access to quality health care for America’s seniors. The maladies of this physician payment system should not be allowed to infect seniors’ access to drugs.
Related posts:
- Medicare drug negotiation
- Government negotiation with pharmaceutical companies
- Lower drug prices, but fewer choices
- Scalpel solves health care
- Op-ed: Doctors’ pay cuts save little in health costs
- AMA victory on the road to permanent Medicare payment reform
- McCain’s Medicare vote comes back to haunt him
KevinMD.com on Facebook
{ 6 comments }
This is not quite correct. While it may be true for Medicare. There is another Government run program that works very well. The VA drug negotiation program has resulted in one of the lowest costing drugs anywhere.
Paaaaleeeeese! I agree with Anonymous. The Heritage Foundation is spreading misinfomation and Kevin fell for it.
As long as physician payments are bundled in with drugs under part D, it is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL that the amount reimbursed for drugs, and the drugs covered, be limited. Physicians have their reimbursement determined in an arbitrary and capricious fashion; whats good for the goose is good for the gander when you are stewing in the same pot.
What we will see is very limited formularies with essentially no choice.
So why should anyone invent new drugs?
“What we will see is very limited formularies with essentially no choice. So why should anyone invent new drugs?”
To paraphrase, in reference to “universal government healthcare”:
“What we will see is very limited physician providers with essentially no choice. So why should anyone go into medicine?”
The answer is that choices do not need to be limited. Diseases still need cures, and people still need doctors.
So long as people are not constrained in their choices, can spend their money as they choose (rather than as the government and insurance companies choose), and have access to providers who are free to set their own prices, there is plenty of room for innovation.
Kevin, you consistently post editorial asssertions as facts without any proof. It is dishonest. I would say that it is beneath you, but I have ceased to give you the benefit of the doubt.
Comments on this entry are closed.