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The Drug Plan Of Medicare

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Medicare Part D is also known as the drug plan of Medicare. It was enacted on January 1, 2006 and became available to millions of patients on Medicare. Medicare is for those individuals who have been working in the United States and have turned 65 or who are disabled.
Part A covers the hospital portion and Part B covers the medical portion. If you qualify and have at least one part then you are eligible for Part D coverage as well. Part D helps people on Medicare to be able to cover some of their prescription costs. This is not a free coverage but requires a monthly premium. All prescriptions are based on a formulary where a low tier will cost the patient less versus a high tier costing more. The idea is that low tier medications will be …show more content…

“Part D plans had a generic efficiency of 96% in 2011, which is up from 90% in 2007. According to CBO, the increased use of generics saved $33 billion in 2007 alone. (Kendall, 2013)”

It is very interesting that when prescriptions are available to seniors there have been less hospital visits and admissions. It truly is a circle effect where all healthcare plays a role. If prescriptions are cheap and patients can afford them then their symptoms are controlled with less pain. This equates to lees doctor visits and hospital trips. When they do not have access and their symptoms are out of control it means more visits which runs up the costs that they cannot afford and the patient gets stuck in that negative circle.

Having a Medicare Part D has contributed to giving patients the right to choose more about their care which has led to other healthcare successes such as the Affordable Care Act. Making not only healthcare but prescriptions available at a better cost is very important in customer satisfaction. There were some fears that employers would drop retiree coverage but thankfully it did not show much of an impact and let employers keep their plans and only increase slightly. This is great for seniors who wanted to keep the plan that they had.
There are some negative effects of the plan. According to Kendall (2013), like the ACA, Part D has an individual penalty: for every year a Medicare beneficiary waits to enroll because he is healthy and thinks

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