Epipen Case Analysis

The real question is not what is causing the increase but what is being done to prevent further increases. Bush has planned to add $77 billion to his budget to provide prescription drugs to about 3 million low-income senior citizens over the next 10 years. In January, Bush also unveiled his proposal to give states a 90 percent mat for drug coverage for the nation’s poorest Medicare recipients. Senior citizens with annual income between $8,500 and

Finally, in a February 2012 proposed regulation, CMS proposed that state Medicaid agencies reimburse pharmacies for retail drugs based on actual acquisition cost. CMS recognized, however, that states may not be able to determine the actual price paid by a pharmacy for a drug billed to Medicaid, so it suggested that states survey pharmacies or rely on other data to calculate an average acquisition cost for drugs purchased and billed by retail community pharmacies. The article reviewed the association between benefit caps, prescription drug use, and the costs associated. It also detailed drug cost sharing, additional medical costs, and specific health outcomes. Using observational data, the studies analyzed the changes and did a cost comparison of outcomes at two points of time, before and after the pharmaceutical benefits changed. The article detailed the impact of pharmaceutical drugs was often difficult to analyze because some data analyzed utilization while others analyzed actual pharmaceutical spending. The data surrounding utilization compared as many as five factors such proportion

The amounts in the table below are what my father has paid in the last two years and what he will be paying in 2008 through AARPMedicareRX. As his caregiver I signed my Dad up for Medicare Part D during the initial enrollment period in 2005. Since Dad had no prescription coverage and after reading the information sent to him in the mail I thought Medicare Part D’s drug plan was a good option. But after being

On December 8, 2003, President Bush signed into law the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (Pub. L. 108-173).  This landmark legislation provides seniors and individuals with disabilities with a prescription drug benefit, more choices, and better benefits under Medicare. It produced the largest overhaul of Medicare in the public health program's 38-year history. The MMA was signed by President George W. Bush on December 8, 2003, after passing in Congress by a close margin. One month later, the ten-year cost estimate was boosted to $534 billion, up more than $100 billion over the figure presented by the Bush administration

prescriptions reaches the $2930 prescription limit. In 2012, a plan will pay 14% and the patient

The Medicaid expansion will cost the federal government between 15-20 billion dollars in the first six years, but the federal government is paying for 93% of the direct expansion costs. But with the expansion, the greater majority of people will be able to pay their own medical bills, which means the state and local governments will save millions of dollars.

Considering the fact that millions of Americans have greatly benefited from these two health programs, the ones who are not really getting much out of this are hospitals and other health care facilities around the country. Reimbursement from these health

Medicaid initially established that each state is responsible for designing their medical costs to pay medical care for the poor. Also, Medicaid created as a voluntary program for each state; they have to have the choice to participate. For one thing, because of the rising costs of healthcare, it has been difficult to bring Medicaid recipients into the “mainstream” of United States (U.S.) medical care. Donald R. Barr notes, “between 1975 and 1989, the cost of the Medicaid program increased by an average of 11.9 percent per year before adjusting for inflation” (172). The rising costs of healthcare are necessary for each state to determine if it is beneficial for them to participate in the Medicaid program. As the government level of payment is determined by each state economic condition. For instance, a state with lower per capita income will receive more government funding. A state with higher per capita income receives less reimbursement for program costs. Therefore, on December 31, 2010, many states continued to experience budget cuts. As a result on August 2010, Congress increased reimbursement rates through June 2011.

Many ObamaCare rules are already into effect today. There has been an increase on the rebates of drugs that people receive through medicare. Since the rebates of drugs increase, the cost

What does it cover? “It cost around fifty dollars to see the primary doctors, and specialize doctor seventy-five dollars.” (www.ehealth.com, 2014) “The prescriptions cost from range from fifteen dollars for generics to out of the pocket on some name brand drugs.” (www.ehealth.com, 2014) Some the name brand drugs are mental disorder and they cost up to thousands of dollars for this one of those prescriptions alone. “Surgeries, x-rays, cat-scans, M.R.I’s all them are half of the cost of the procedure. That does not count price of ER is five hundred dollars and every day you stay in the hospital it extra five hundred dollars you pay every day that you are in there.” (www.ehealth.com, 2014) It would be cheaper than paying out the pocket for a hospital stay or most of those things besides the name brand prescriptions it the same price.

enrolled in the new program. The $8 billion includes the state share of costs for both newly eligible adults and the additional Medicaid participation among currently eligible populations that would result from expansion. If all states implemented the Medicaid expansion, federal spending would increase by $800 billion, or 21 percent, compared to the ACA with no states implementing the expansion (Holahan, et al., 2013). Therefore, although the increase in spending per state is relatively small, the cost to our nation is exponential. With the national debt growing day by day, many believe that an exponential increase in national spending is a difficult thing to justify.

According to a Washington Post analysis of a report from the Congressional Budget Office, approximately $741 billion of the funding comes from Medicare cuts over ten years, with $415 billion of that coming from cuts to payment rates. From that same analysis, another significant source of funding is new and increased revenue from taxes. Over ten years, some $161 billion of these taxes come in the form of penalties paid by individuals and employers for not meeting the terms of the insurance mandate, while another $318 billion comes as a result of increased taxes on unearned income for individuals earning more than $200,000 a year. (Kliff, 2012)

The EpiPen device automatically injects a drug called epinephrine, which reverses potentially deadly allergic reactions. It is the only device of its kind available in the United States. Millions depend on carrying the device at all times. For decades the EpiPen was available at a low cost until the Mylan Company purchased it in 2007. Since then, the price has risen over 400% creating a public backlash of media reports, social media petitions, and politician’s calling out Mylan executives to explain the reason for the price raise. Lack of compassion and appearance of greed has tarnished the public image of the company. Mylan has begun looking for ways of rebuilding their image by releasing compensation to the public in the form of generic cheaper EpiPens and payment assistance to eligible patients, but it might be too little too late in this current ongoing communication crisis event.

The difference between the hospital payouts vs the doctor payouts is the same as all the prescription drugs costs in 2006. Which is a huge deal in today’s healthcare discussions; right now, the focus is on the expensive medications and outcry by the public on their costs. However, a flaw in this data could be that it is simply out dated with 11 years taking place between now and the publishing of this study. Just in asthmatic biologics alone, there has been an addition of five new products in the past year. Each of these products is a monthly (or bi weekly) medication that costs over $1,000 per treatment. In addition, where the data is being received from is another factor. The medications that are expensive like chemo drugs or human product drugs could be put under a person’s medical benefits not their pharmacy and then given in the hospital. Adding to the hospital’s costs but is truly a drug cost not a

The Commonwealth Fund, New York. (2006). US Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage. Retrieved from US Me