|
Medicare Says Drug Cards Are Forcing Down Prices
May 14, 2004 - After the first full week of making
information on assured drug price discounts available to beneficiaries,
the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' review of the savings
offered by drug card sponsors shows that more cards will be offering
lower prices to beneficiaries, compared with prices posted last week.
"Seniors will be able to reap the benefits of
competition in terms of lower prices," Health and Human Services
Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said. "Card sponsors are comparing their
discounts to those of their competitors and they're lowering prices to
attract the business of Medicare beneficiaries."
Far more cards are offering not only discounts
below Average Wholesale Price (AWP), but more importantly, discounts
below the average retail price paid by all Americans, including
Americans with public or private insurance, as shown in a report CMS
released last week. Now, CMS is seeing further evidence that these cards
will provide significant help to consumers.
This week-to-week improvement means more cards are
offering better prices, with those cards that had higher prices last
week, lowering their prices to become more competitive.
For Medicare-approved cards that provided prices
last week and again this week, the average discount price across all
cards reported on "Price Compare" declined by approximately 11.5 percent
for brand-name drugs and 12.5 percent for generic drugs for zip codes in
31 states examined by CMS. This price decline in the second week was
also greater in those cards whose prices were higher than average in the
first week - for example, in some states there was up to a 25 percent
price decrease.
"From a variety of analyses we are seeing more
discounts on more Medicare-approved cards - discounts of at least 15
percent from usual prices for brand-name drugs in retail pharmacies, and
larger discounts for generic drugs and mail-order drugs, and prices well
below the average drug prices for all Americans - including those with
public or private insurance," said CMS Administrator Mark B. McClellan,
M.D., Ph.D.
Sponsors are now comparing their discounts to their
competitors, more cards are offering favorable prices, and CMS is
working with card sponsors to make sure that the best discounts they can
assure are published for Medicare beneficiaries.
Pricing information from most of the 73 approved
cards is now available at www.medicare.gov.
CMS analyses confirm substantial discounts on many
cards.
-
For brand-name drugs in retail pharmacies, cards
provide discounts of 15 to 20 percent or more below AWP and 11 to 17
percent below the national average drug store prices paid by all
Americans, including the prices paid by Americans with public and
private insurance, Americans without drug coverage including millions
of seniors often have to pay 'list' prices at the drug store; in
contrast, Americans with public and private insurance usually get
discounted prices for their medicines, in addition to drug coverage.
For example in Maryland, there are discounts up to 27 percent or more
below the usual quoted cash prices.
-
Cards provide significantly larger discounts on
mail-order drugs, and commonly exceed savings available from Internet
sites.
-
Even larger savings are available on generic
drugs, ranging between 30 to 60 percent below the usual retail prices
paid by Americans.
|
