Notice NOT ONE REPUBLICAN signed this letter. It was also the Democrats that voted AGAINST Medicare Part D in 2004-2005. When Medicare started in 1965 there was no medication coverage
Part A covered hospital
Part B covered doc’s office visits and lab tests
Once a pt got a diagnose with what their health issues where.. there was no coverage for medication to treat their health issues.
Off course, back then, the average Rx price was abt $4 and there were few generics.. everything was BRAND NAME…
Today with generics being some 85%+ of all prescriptions the average Rx price is pushing $60 each.
We really didn’t start see price increases until the PBM’s came to being (1969-1970) with the goal of saving the pts and the system money and when Congress starting pushing for generics to come to the market place.. mid-70’s.
If one applied the CPI (Consumer Price Index) or COLA ( Cost of Living Index Adjustment) to those 1965 prices… and nothing else changed one would expect that the average Rx price to be in the $ 30 -40 range today.
Aren’t we all glad that the increase in generic utilization and the PBM industry has helped us all save money ?
Filed under: General Problems
Steve,
How can we see Durbin’s letter?