Medicare Drug Benefit to Cost &#36;724 Billion
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President Bush added Medicare to the government's fix-it list Wednesday after new figures showed the first full decade of the program's prescription benefit will cost taxpayers &#36;724 billion.
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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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A major component in the skyrocketing cost of health care in America is prescription drug costs. Whatever final solution the country comes to about how to handle health care, one thing is clear, pharmaceutical
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The basic Medicare premium will rise next year to $93.50 a month, an increase of $5, the Bush administration announced Tuesday.
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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Despite absorbing three straight years of double-digit increases in retiree health-care costs, more than half of employers that offer retiree health and drug coverage plan to keep it when the Medicare prescription drug benefit
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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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Millions of older Americans are confronting a temporary break in their Medicare drug coverage this month that will require them to pay the full cost of their prescriptions or face the painful prospect of going without.
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Nearly 2 million low-income Medicare participants could be switched to different insurance plans for their prescription drug coverage next year
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Pharmaceutical companies launched an effort yesterday to provide significant price discounts for 275 brand-name drugs to 36 million Americans who lack prescription drug coverage.
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FRIDAY, Dec. 10 (HealthDayNews) -- Although the U.S. government will make about &#36;2.72 billion in extra payments to Medicare private health plans next year, two new reports say the savings to individual beneficiaries will be modest.
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After some initial success containing drug prices, private insurers in the new Medicare prescription drug program may be losing their leverage over drug manufacturers as they try to hold down medicine costs for seniors and the federal government, House investigators have found.
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Be aware of the Medicare drug plan's gaps.
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The U.S. government hopes to entice  companies into offering the elderly cost-saving prescription  drug benefits next year while making sure they have access to  most medicines, according to Medicare rules issued on Friday.
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A prescription drug benefit of the U.S. Medicare program is a "financially irresponsible" addition to a system that was already on course for possible bankruptcy, the U.S. government's top accountant said in an interview on Sunday.
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A senior Senate Republican said on  Sunday Congress should adjust the Medicare drug benefit to rein  in costs, even though President Bush has threatened to veto any  weakening of the plan.
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TUESDAY, Jan. 8 (HealthDay News) -- The new Medicare prescription drug plan was largely responsible for an 18.7 percent increase in Medicare spending in 2006, which was double the increase in spending from the year before, U.S. health officials report.
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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.