Prescription Drugs Under Medicare

by Smith, Mickey C.

• ISBN13: 9780789013071
• ISBN10: 078901307X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-03-07
• Publisher: Informa HealthC

Summary

How will the failures and findings of the past affect this fiercely debated current issue? In the near future, Congress may call for federal provision of outpatient prescription drugs as a benefit of the Medicare program. Prescription Drugs Under Medicare: The Legacy of the Task Force on Prescription Drugs is the story of the very first serious federal effort to study the feasibility of funding a drug benefits program for the elderly. That effort failed, and this fascinating text reveals why and how the program came to grief. Prescription Drugs Under Medicare explains the politics and practicalities of several government efforts to fund prescriptions for the elderly. The 1969 task force report is reprinted here in its entirety, along with comments from two of its primary architects, Dr. T. Donald Rucker and Dr. Philip Lee. Also included are excerpts from the report's review by the Dunlop Committee. The drug prices have changed, but the basic dilemma is the same. Prescription Drugs Under Medicare examines the burning issues, including: the reasons for the explosive growth in prescription prices from the 1950s onward the ongoing conflicts between the pharmaceutical industry and the government regulators the short-lived Reagan reforms of Medicare benefits the impact of managed care on the pharmaceutical marketplace Including powerful behind-the-scenes accounts, Prescription Drugs Under Medicare provides hard-to-find information and lucid analyses of this hotly debated subject. Pharmaceutical executives, medical economists, and policymakers will be fascinated by the story of how the stage was set for the congressional debates occurring in 2001.

Author Biography

Mickey C. Smith, Ph.D., is currently Research Professor in Health Services Research at the University of Mississippi.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(2)
Mickey C. Smith
Editor's Note	3	(2)
The HEW Task Force on Prescription Drugs: An Insider's Perspective	5	(24)
T. Donald Rucker
Editor's Note	27	(2)
Final Report	29	(154)
Task Force on Prescription Drugs
Editor's Note	181	(2)
The Task Force on Prescription Drugs: A Review of Problems, Progress and Possibilities	183	(12)
Philip R. Lee
Editor's Note	193	(2)
Report of the Secretary's Review Committee of the Task Force on Prescription Drugs	195	(12)
Secretary's Review Committee of the Task Force on Prescription Drugs
Secretary's Review Committee of the Task Force on Prescription Drugs: Dissenting Comments	207	(6)
Joseph F. Follmann
Editor's Note	211	(2)
Health Policy Report: Medicare's New Benefits: ``Catastrophic'' Health Insurance	213	(18)
John K. Iglehart
Editor's Note	229	(2)
The Legacy of the HEW Task Force on Prescription Drugs	231	(4)
Thomas R. Fulda
Bonnie B. Wilford
A Framework for Research and Evaluation into the Effects of Managed Care on the Pharmaceutical Marketplace: Excerpts from the Final Report	235	(32)
Advisory Panel on DHHS DO16
Index	267