There is a lot of discussion about “Medicare for All” nowadays. Most people don’t realize that “Medicare for All” is not a thing, but rather a variety of different pieces of legislation and plans that work in different ways. They also overlook that close to 100% of current Medicare participants have, in addition to Medicare, either supplementary insurance or Medicaid, because Medicare in its current form doesn’t cover everything, nor does it pay enough to providers to cover their costs. In addition, many Medicare participants have a specific drug plan, or their formulary is rolled into their Medicare Advantage plan.

Over time, I’m going to cover different aspects of changing our medical care provision and payment options, because there are a lot of moving parts, and much to understand. Today’s topic is drugs.

When you talk to people about what they hate about healthcare today, their biggest concerns relate to the cost of things. And at the top of the list of costs are drugs – especially for those millions of people who take non-generic drugs. One of the biggest complaints is about insulin, which you would think was a generic, but well, it’s actually spelled “insu — American-Pharma-Benefit-Manager-Greed — lin”. Continue Reading...