Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Medicaid and Medicare

New Reports Show Medicare Drug Prices Are High and Rising Rapidly

Rep. Waxman releases three new reports that show (1) Medicare drug plans have raised prices for popular brand-name drugs by more than 4% since January 1; (2) Medicare drug plans now charge 14% more for these drugs than the discredited Medicare drug cards previously charged; and (3) Medicare drug card providers negotiated negligible discounts of at most 3% to 5% from drug manufacturers. One of the three reports was prepared by GAO; it also finds that the Administration had advance warning that its systems would not be able to reconcile enrollment and eligibility data satisfactorily.