Committee Holds Hearing on Medicare Part D

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing titled, “The Medicare Drug Benefit: Are Private Insurers Getting Good Discounts for the Taxpayer?” on Thursday, July 24, 2008, in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building.

The Medicare Part D program provides prescription drug coverage to almost 30 million enrollees, and will cost federal taxpayers almost $1 trillion in the next decade. The hearing examined whether the private insurers that receive government subsidies to provide the Part D benefit are able to effectively obtain prescription drug discounts from drug manufacturers. Since the Part D program’s inception in January 2006, observers have questioned whether the private insurers who run the program are effectively negotiating with drug manufacturers for low prices. A preliminary transcript of this hearing is now available.

The following witnesses testified:

• Stephen Schondelmeyer, Pharm.D., Ph.D., Professor and Head, Department of Pharmaceutical Care and Health Systems, University of Minnesota
• Gerard Anderson, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Center for Hospital Finance and Management, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
• Fiona M. Scott Morton, Ph.D., Professor of Economics, Yale School of Management, Yale University
• Kerry Weems, Acting Administrator, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services
• Mark Merritt, President and Chief Executive Officer, Pharmaceutical Care Management Association
• Rick Smith, Senior Vice President for Policy, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA)
• Paul Precht, Director of Policy and Communications, Medicare Rights Center
• Judith Stein, Executive Director, Center for Medicare Advocacy