New Coupons Aim To Keep People Off Generic Drugs

[longnecker]

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Some drugmakers with blockbuster medicines getting generic competition are betting Americans will stick with the name they know rather that switching to a cheaper copycat.
They're giving them a big financial incentive to stay on the brand-name drug: coupons that can cut their copayment to about what they'd pay for the new generic rival. Many of the coupons also let people paying cash save up to $100 a month.
The drugs include staples in the American medicine cabinet - cholesterol fighter Lipitor, blood thinner Plavix and blood pressure drug Diovan - plus depression and breast cancer medicines.
The drugmakers are trying to hang onto millions in sales as they are squeezed by rising research costs, the weak global economy and pressure from Europe, China and elsewhere to reduce drug prices.
http://www.wmdt.com/story/19320280/n...-generic-drugs

[Kid Lester]

They're giving them a big financial incentive to stay on the brand-name drug: coupons that can cut their copayment to about what they'd pay for the new generic rival.

So they cover your extra co-pay. Normally you'd pay $10 for generic and $40 for brand specific. So they give you a coupon for the $30 so you buy Lipitor for $300 a scrip. They make $270.00 off your insurance.

Meanwhile, the generic costs $50 a scrip for the same thing.

Guess what that does to all of our insurance premiums?

People act like private insurance isn't socialized. What a dumbass country we live in.

[Curly]

They make $270.00 off your insurance.

Guess what that does to all of our insurance premiums?

If that isn't insurance fraud, I don't know what is. The Feds should be all over this.

The drugmakers are trying to hang onto millions in sales as they are squeezed by rising research costs, the weak global economy and pressure from Europe, China and elsewhere to reduce drug prices.

It's called COMPETITION, get used to it fuckers!

[Beau Stockard]

Can you just imagine the riot when conservatives have to start explaining to seniors that they'll be giving up their Medicare and instead buying healthcare coupons from the big private healthcare providers and drug makers?

[EpicWin]

Obamacare has it's benefits.

[Curly]

Can you just imagine the riot when conservatives have to start explaining to seniors that they'll be giving up their Medicare and instead buying healthcare coupons from the big private healthcare providers and drug makers?

Can you just imagine the riot when the libs/democrats have to start explaining to working class Americans that they're being dropped from their employer sponsered healthcare and forced onto Obamacare because it's cheaper and can't be competed with by the privately owned healthcare insurance companies?

FYI, the seniors are already upset that 700 billion is being robbed from Medicare to help fund Obamacare.....and they won't riot because broken hips aren't covered if they were broken during civil unrest.

[hockey]

Anyone who thinks healthcare is okay the way it is has a lot to learn about the system. Insurance companies are out to make money, they don't a shit about anyone except their stockholders. The entire American healthcare system needs to be blown to pieces then completely restructured.

The first thing they need to do is outlaw the lobbying by Pharms. Then put Doctors who get spiffs for putting their patients on prescribed meds that they do not need in jail. Pharms must stop bribing and influencing doctors, hospitals, clinics, etc to use their meds exclusively. The costs of procedures that medical facilities charge is inflated so much because of private insurance companies. Then limit the payouts from law suits against "malpractice" (and other lawyer influenced suits) that is requiring physicians to purchase huge insurance policies to protect them. It's so stupid, it's like the policies cancel each other out.

Q - How is it possible veterinary hospitals, who use the same "human" equipment, charge so much less for the same amount of tests and time on these machines? How is it my dog's radiation treatment was so shockingly affordable when it was done on a state of the art machine that you find in human hospitals and being used by technicians trained at the same institutions as their human counterparts? Could it be that my dog has no health insurance? It proves that the actual operating costs are far less than out hospital bills indicate.

I'm all for restructuring and policing the entire human medical world. If your doctors are bitching..... they're just pissed at the good possibility all those free caribbean vacations, front row tickets, luxury items won't be thrown at them anymore. That the outrageous fees they charge for 118 seconds looking at your chart or a result from a test that some other doctor administered then a third doctor read and verified.... all charging exorbitant fees because they can! IT's all going to be brought back down to earth.... finally.

[Beau Stockard]

@Curly

FYI, the seniors are already upset that 700 billion is being robbed from Medicare to help fund Obamacare

@hockey

The costs of procedures that medical facilities charge is inflated so much because of private insurance companies

I can try to answer both questions by clearing up a few things. Republicans have made the claim that Obama is 'killing Medicare ' by stealing funds to pay for the more costly Obamacare' However , they can't figure out exactly how much Obama has 'stole' ; Reince Priebus says $700 billion and Romney says $500 billion. I believe that Republicans are really trying to hide that their own Ryan budget plan has the same amount of cuts as Obamacare to Medicare. Both parties agree that cuts need to be made to eliminate waste and fraud , but the difference is that Paul Ryan wants the cuts on the beneficiaries side while President Obama thinks that the cuts should be made on the provider side(insurance companies, doctors,etc)

Actually ,Obamacare saves Medicare $700 billion that would have gone to doctors, insurance companies, etc. because of waste and fraud, overcharges, double-billing, and so forth. Obamacare itself saves seniors millions by closing the prescription drug coverage gap in Medicare Part D known as the donut hole. The Center for American Progress notes,

Without Obamacare that donut hole would’ve grown to a $6,000 gap by 2020. Instead, it’s shrinking every year and will disappear by 2020.

The USA Today has explained that seniors have saved $687 million in prescription drug prices thanks to Obamacare through the first six months of 2012.

In the first six months of this year, more than 1 million seniors and people with disabilities saved $687 million on prescription drugs in the doughnut hole — or the gap between traditional and catastrophic coverage in the Part D drug benefit — as part of the health care law, Health and Human Services plans to announce Wednesday.
That’s an average of $629 per patient.
As part of the 2010 health care law, drugmakers participating in the program had to give the government a 50% break on premium drugs and 14% on generic drugs, which the government then passed on to seniors. In 2012, the coverage gap is $2,930. The health care law eliminates the doughnut hole by 2020.

Further ,the Congressional Budget Office explains that repealing Obamacare would increase Medicare costs i.e. waste,fraud,abuse, by $716 billion over 10 years--in other words if Republicans repeal Obamacare then they will bankrupt Medicare by giving more money to insurance companies and hospitals.The CBO reports that

Many of the other provisions that would be repealed by enacting H.R. 6079 affect spending for Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs. The ACA made numerous changes to payment rates and payment rules in those programs, established a voluntary federal program for long-term care insurance through the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) provisions, and made certain other changes to federal health programs. In total, CBO estimates that repealing those provisions would increase net federal spending by $711 billion over the 2013–2022 period

Paul Ryan would end Medicare as we know it while Obamacare preserves the best features of the Medicare system to provide affordable quality healthcare to our growing population of aging seniors.

[max1]

@Curly

@hockey

I can try to answer both questions by clearing up a few things. Republicans have made the claim that Obama is 'killing Medicare ' by stealing funds to pay for the more costly Obamacare' However , they can't figure out exactly how much Obama has 'stole' ; Reince Priebus says $700 billion and Romney says $500 billion. I believe that Republicans are really trying to hide that their own Ryan budget plan has the same amount of cuts as Obamacare to Medicare. Both parties agree that cuts need to be made to eliminate waste and fraud , but the difference is that Paul Ryan wants the cuts on the beneficiaries side while President Obama thinks that the cuts should be made on the provider side(insurance companies, doctors,etc)

Actually ,Obamacare saves Medicare $700 billion that would have gone to doctors, insurance companies, etc. because of waste and fraud, overcharges, double-billing, and so forth. Obamacare itself saves seniors millions by closing the prescription drug coverage gap in Medicare Part D known as the donut hole. The Center for American Progress notes, The USA Today has explained that seniors have saved $687 million in prescription drug prices thanks to Obamacare through the first six months of 2012. Further ,the Congressional Budget Office explains that repealing Obamacare would increase Medicare costs i.e. waste,fraud,abuse, by $716 billion over 10 years--in other words if Republicans repeal Obamacare then they will bankrupt Medicare by giving more money to insurance companies and hospitals.The CBO reports that Paul Ryan would end Medicare as we know it while Obamacare preserves the best features of the Medicare system to provide affordable quality healthcare to our growing population of aging seniors.

oh please Beau read this, and stop spreading mis-imformation.

http://www.factcheck.org/2012/07/no-...edicare-claim/

[EpicWin]

[longnecker]

I'm all for restructuring and policing the entire human medical world. If your doctors are bitching..... they're just pissed at the good possibility all those free caribbean vacations, front row tickets, luxury items won't be thrown at them anymore. That the outrageous fees they charge for 118 seconds looking at your chart or a result from a test that some other doctor administered then a third doctor read and verified.... all charging exorbitant fees because they can! IT's all going to be brought back down to earth.... finally.

The negotiated rates they charge the insurers are bad enough. Have you looked at a statement from your insurer and seen how much they saved you(i.e.the rate charged the poor uninsured guy} Maybe they should investigate the need for tests prescribed by physician whose practice's own stress test machines or MRI units for example.

[Beau Stockard]

oh please Beau read this, and stop spreading mis-imformation.

http://www.factcheck.org/2012/07/no-...edicare-claim/

I have read it Max . Thanks for your important input.

It’s true that an analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that seniors on the private plans would pay more than they would under traditional Medicare. And the CBO analysis indicated that a 65-year-old in 2022 could pay about $6,000 more than he or she would for the year under traditional Medicare. The government subsidies would increase with the rate of inflation, which critics argued was not much when dealing with health costs that, for years, have risen much faster than the general inflation rate. Ryan did say that low-income beneficiaries would get more money from the government to help cover costs, but the details on how much and who would qualify were not yet fleshed out.

Still, under the Ryan plan beneficiaries will pay the most for higher healthcare costs because of inflation , etc. Like I said, Obamacare sets out to reform the US healthcare system as is, making crucial cost-sharing measures key to how we will pay for sustainable healthcare programs---Obama wants the providers(doctors, big insurers, big pharma, hospitals, etc. ) to pay a fairer price for making enormous profits off our shared healthcare system which will distribute the costs and rewards more fairly to all income and social interest groups.

[max1]

Can you just imagine the riot when conservatives have to start explaining to seniors that they'll be giving up their Medicare and instead buying healthcare coupons from the big private healthcare providers and drug makers?

This is bull Beau, please show me your source.

[hockey]

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2...care-overhaul/

(I know ABC is a corporate run agency and I'm not sure if they lean towards one side or another..... does anyone know?)

[Beau Stockard]

Sorry Max , I might have been too heavily influenced by my grandfather. Grandpop used to tell me that the hairs on the back of his neck would stand on end whenever he saw a government man coming around the neighborhood to tell of a new program to help the people. I always want to stop the guy's spiel and ask him who pays? and who gets what from this new program? Despite Paul Ryan being well-dressed, smart, and friendly he is nothing if not a big government man. Like the soft-sell Bible salesman Elmer Gantry, Paul Ryan is short on details, and vague on the ramifications of reducing the number of eligible seniors by raising the age requirement, first to 65;then to 67 by 2023. At what point does too few beneficiaries in traditional Medicare change its cost-effectiveness if not for Paul Ryan then for some young, bright , future cost-accountant who wants to make a good impression and notices that Medicare costs way more for healthcare benefits to less and less recipients? The logical answer would be end unsustainable Medicare programs and save the government millions.

[Beau Stockard]

Maybe hockey is on to something , like looking at the bigger picture on how similar or different Obamacare or Romney/Ryan's 'new plan' will impact ourselves and future Americans(namely the younger, Generation Y yearning to get their chance to contribute in a growing economy)

There are no long-term reviews for this updated Romney-Ryan plan yet — or specific published details – so it appears the 2011 CBO report on Ryan’s original budget proposal is the only thing we have to go on.
“It’s based on what detail they were given at the time,” Judy Feder, a professor of public policy at Georgetown University, said of the CBO report’s relevance. “The burden is on Ryan and Romney to give us more detail.”

Forget the tax reforms releases, redefining rape, or denying women reproductive rights(for now), let us all ask Romney and his bright young political protegee(almost said 'Boy Wonder' a.k.a. Robin) for details ,specfics , and explanation on how it will work. We know Obamacare , but we don't know anything helpful about Ryan's overhaul alternative plan. I yield the floor back to the irrepressible, smarty-pants hockey with all due respect.

[max1]

I hear you Beau, but you did not address my issue, which is ms-imformation. You are spreading it by this quote

"
Originally Posted by Beau Stockard
Can you just imagine the riot when conservatives have to start explaining to seniors that they'll be giving up their Medicare and instead buying healthcare coupons from the big private healthcare providers and drug makers? "

Now I think your too smart to be reading an outdated Paul Ryan plan for healthcare which only lets me believe you did that intentionally. I don't know but I feel like this is the stuff that needs to be challenged and these myths exposed. Besides why does Paul Ryans plan mean anything, Romney is the one running for president. :-)

[Beau Stockard]

@Max, [QUOTEBesides why does Paul Ryans plan mean anything, Romney is the one running for president. :-)][/QUOTE] Good points ,max. However, By Mitt Romney picking Paul Ryan to be his VP running mate, he won't be able to run on his political record such as the success of Romneycare in Massachusetts which was passed only through bipartisanship in the Massachusetts state legislature. Romney will have to go out and defend Paul Ryan 's budget plan despite incompatible differences. For example, Ryan proposes that all government expenditures on national departments, Health, Education, Social Security, Medicare, Environment, even Defense won't rise above 4% of GDP--But, Congress has never allowed Defense to drop below 4% . It'll be interesting to see how Mitt gets around or explains the discrepency. Romney also supported women reproductive rights and safe abortions in limited cases of rape, incest, or if the health of the mother was at risk. But, the RNC has sided with Ryan and Todd Akin and the radicals that abortion should be outlawed with no exceptions. Period. If Romney's best attribute is that he's a moderate Republican then it'll be torture trying to justify all the extremist ideas of Paul Ryan and the far right-wing lunatic fringe. The RNC Convention in Tampa is going to be entertaining! I remember reading Norman Mailer's , "Miami and the Siege of Chicago" a long time ago. On our modern times, Mailer was being eerily prescient about the problems plaguing our politics today.

"for the first time in their existence, the Wasps were modest about power. They were not certain they would know what to do with it... They were the most powerful force in America, and yet they were a psychic island. If they did not find a bridge, they could only grow more insane each year, like a rich nobleman in an empty castle chasing elves and ogres with his stick. They had every power but the one they needed—which was to attach their philosophy to history...
One could predict: their budgeting would prove insane, their righteousness would prove insane, their love for order and clear-thinking would be twisted through many a wry neck, the intellectual foundations of their anti-Communism would split into its separate parts. And the small-town faith in small free enterprise would run smash into the corporate juggernauts of technology land; their love of polite culture would collide with the mad aesthetics of the new America; their livid passion for military superiority would smash its nose on the impossibility of having such superiority without more government spending; their love of nature would have to take up arms against the despoiling foe, themselves, their own greed, their own big business.

[Curly]

I'm all for restructuring andpolicing the entire human medical world. If your doctors are bitching..... they're just pissed at the good possibility all those free caribbean vacations, front row tickets, luxury items won't be thrown at them anymore. That the outrageous fees they charge for 118 seconds looking at your chart or a result from a test that some other doctor administered then a third doctor read and verified.... all charging exorbitant fees because they can! IT's all going to be brought back down to earth.... finally.

Oh yeah, you have it all figured out. What a bunch of bullshit. Damn, sounds like you need new doctors. Sure, that shit goes on but there's a lot more to what "else" goes on that they pay for. From the doctors I talked to, Obamacare doesn't address any of the issues you mentioned. It's forcing them out of business, they just can't afford it anymore. It sure as hell doesn't drop the premiums for malpractice insurance.

(I know ABC is a corporate run agency and I'm not sure if they lean towards one side or another..... does anyone know?)

I love your sarcasm.