Medicare Benefit Appears to Slow Spending Growth on Drugs
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Federal number crunchers said yesterday that the new Medicare drug benefit appears to be slowing the growth in national spending on prescription medicines because the drug plans are negotiating lower prices with drug companies.
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The fight over the lucrative market for rheumatoid arthritis drugs is heating up. In the last five years, three similar drugs have been introduced that offer patients the promise of getting back on their feet. Now the manufacturers of all three are jockeying for market share so they can be the leader when Medicare's full prescription drug benefit takes effect ...
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The Bush administration said Wednesday that extra money it is paying Medicare managed care plans is leading to lower costs and better services for patients.
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While treatments have multiplied, the operations and processes for delivering those medicines haven't kept pace, slowing health improvement in developing and developed countries. Alexis Madrigal reports from the AAAS annual meeting in Boston.
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U.S. prescription drug sales rose 8.3 percent to $274.9 billion last year, fueled by the Medicare drug benefit, increased use of generic medicines and new treatments for diseases such as cancer and diabetes, according to a new report.
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Pushing more of the cost of  prescription drugs onto consumers causes patients to cut back,  sometimes with adverse health consequences, according to a  review of two decades worth of studies published on Tuesday.
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The Medicare drug benefit has come in way under budget this year, which supporters boast is a testament to the benefits of competition.
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WASHINGTON A new survey shows many large employers will keep prescription drug benefits for retirees after the start of the Medicare drug program -- but at lower levels.
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The U.S. Medicare health insurance  program said on Friday it would reduce payments for anemia  drugs when used to treat elderly and disabled patients who are  undergoing kidney dialysis.
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Annual inflation in drug costs is at the lowest rate in three decades as generic versions of some of the most common drugs have recently come on the market.
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Sexual performance drugs such as Viagra will be covered in Medicare's new prescription drug program, a lifestyle rather than lifesaving benefit that conservatives and watchdog groups say the government shouldn't provide.
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Jane Fumich and her team visit Cleveland's churches, public housing holiday parties and ward club meetings trying to give away the government's money &#151; without much success. A year after the Medicare overhaul became law, the Bush administration is struggling to get the poor signed up for a drug discount card that comes with &#36;1,200 in aid between now and 2006.
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Seniors and the disabled flocked to the pharmacy counter in 2006 with their new Medicare drug cards, fueling a 6.7 percent increase in health spending, the federal government reported Monday.
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After years of double-digit cost increases, employers are seeing a significant slowing in the rate of growth in what they pay for employee health insurance.
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Most large employers will maintain prescription drug benefits for retirees after the Medicare drug insurance program begins in 2006, according to a study released Tuesday.
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&quot;While Medicare patients will receive little or no benefit in return for the increase in premium payments next year, the prescription drug bill provided an immediate and dramatic increase
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MONDAY, Feb. 5 (HealthDay News) -- President Bush's proposed $2.9 trillion federal budget, unveiled Monday, calls for health care spending cuts, including a major five-year reduction in Medicare expenditures to slow the program's annual growth rate from 6.5 percent to 5.6 percent.