Millions of Seniors Saving Money on Prescription Drugs, Thanks to the Affordable Care Act

[babylonsister]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/11/28/millions-seniors-saving-money-prescription-drugs-thanks-affordable-care-act

Millions of Seniors Saving Money on Prescription Drugs, Thanks to the Affordable Care Act
Posted by Nancy-Ann DeParle on November 28, 2011 at 02:51 PM EST


Over the weekend, a report by the Associated Press detailed how the Affordable Care Act is dramatically reducing drug costs for seniors who hit the prescription drug coverage gap known as the donut hole. This year, seniors are benefiting from a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs in the donut hole. And the discount and other provisions in the law are saving money for seniors. As the AP reported:

The average beneficiary who falls into the coverage gap would have spent $1,504 this year on prescriptions. But thanks to discounts and other provisions in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law, that cost fell to $901, according to Medicare's Office of the Actuary, which handles economic estimates.

So far this year, more than 2.2 million people with Medicare have saved more than $1.2 billion on their prescriptions. The Associated Press spoke with two of them:

For retired elementary school teacher Carolyn Friedman, it meant she didn't need a loan to pay for drugs that keep her epilepsy under control.

"What a change for the better," said Friedman, 71, of Sunrise, Fla. "This year it was easier to pay my bills, whereas last year I had to borrow money to pay for my medications when I was in the doughnut hole."

…

Joan Gibbs thought her pharmacy had made a mistake. Her total cost for a brand-name painkiller in the doughnut hole came out lower than her co-payment earlier in the year, at a time her plan was picking up most of the tab.

"I reluctantly called the insurance company," said Gibbs, 54, who lives near Cleveland. "If they had made a mistake, I knew they would catch it sooner or later. I was very surprised that it turned out to be such a good discount."

Gibbs is on Medicare because of an auto-immune disorder and other medical problems that left her unable to work.

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, seniors will receive bigger discounts in the years ahead. By 2020, the donut hole will be closed completely.

And even if you don’t hit the donut hole, there’s still good news for beneficiaries with Medicare Part D. Prescription drug premiums will not rise next year, and thanks to health reform, seniors can get preventive services like mammograms and other cancer screenings for free.

Nancy-Ann DeParle is the Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff

[NV Whino]

1. Not sure who that savings went to

My copay has gone from $5 to $9 and a could of tier 2 drugs, one of them generic, have gone from $20 to $45. I guess that's so I can get to the donut hole faster to save all that money.

[DFLforever]

2. My Part D premiums are down a few dollars per month

starting in January.

edit for typo

[SkyDaddy7]

27. So are mine...And I have saved...

roughly $250 a month since the ACA began being debated. I know Pfizer changed their requirements for low income people like myself to get their medicine free from the company starting in the summer of 2009...They no longer excluded everyone on Medicare & they changed the requirements on maximum annual income from < $10K to < $1800 a month for a single person with no kids. This may have something to do with the so-called secret deal Obama made with the drug companies but what I do know is the requirements changed at the same exact time period.

Add in the fact that now my doughnut hole cost are cut in half I have no longer have to worry about losing my house!

NO ONE I KNOW who is on Medicare, and that is a lot of people, have said anything about their cost going up like some here are claiming...I would hope people would not lie just to score political points but I know better.

[slipslidingaway]

3. The 80 billion dollar deal Obama made with Billy Tauzin and Pharma ...

what was given up in return? No bulk price negotiation under Medicare, Obama's proposed written HC plan said we could save 300 billion plus. He even made a campaign ad about "Billy" and then chastised politicians who give up their written plans and make deals once they are in the WH. His words "This is Not who we are!!! ..." but it turns out that was just another speech in late 2008 and he did exactly that once in the WH.

Watch the actions, not the pretty words!

Obviously they are counting on people not remembering the deal with Tauzin.

:(


Not mentioned in the WH blog is what was given in exchange for this deal.


Senator Carper Publicly Defends Secret PhRMA Deal In Exchange For Support Ads

Links ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6622945&mesg_id=6622945

It appears that we may have moved from a possible 300 billion over 10 years to 80 billion. Maybe the Nelson amendment will be added in the final bill, but that is still far short of what was discussed in the original plan.


"In a stunning moment during the Senate Finance Committee markup Sen. Tom Carper defended a secret deal that the White House, Baucus, and PhRMA had reached. The White House has long denied the deal. Carper publicly acknowledges that part of the deal was that PhRMA would run millions of dollars worth of campaign ads in support of health care reform.

...Carper was speaking in opposition to an amendment from Sen. Bill Nelson and Sen. Jay Rockefeller. The amendment mirrors what Henry Waxman did in the House to close the Medicare Part D doughnut hole by requiring drug manufactures to provide rebates for the overcharging of dual eligible Medicare/Medicaid recipients. In July, Debbie Halvorson and Heatlh Shuler authored a letter to Waxman signed by 70 Democrats, asking him a rewrite the bill to " substitute the President's proposal" for his own, which reflected the PhRMA deal.

PhRMA's board approved the $80 billion in price reductions on June 19.

On June 30, the Hill reported that PhRMA began running ads in the districts of vulnerable Democratic House freshmen."



http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07242009/watch.html

"MARCIA ANGELL: That Medicare Part D will not bargain for lower prices. There'll be no formularies. You know, even this thing about the pharmaceutical industry is going to kick in $80 billion over ten--

BILL MOYERS: Have we heard--

MARCIA ANGELL: --years. That the President mentioned in the press conference.

TRUDY LIEBERMAN: Only if health care passes. So.

MARCIA ANGELL: First this is $8 billion a year for the pharmaceutical industry. This is chump change. And second, it's only for brand-name drugs. So, in a sense, it's a subsidy for the most expensive drugs.

BILL MOYERS: Do you believe the health care industry when it tells President Obama that "we will voluntarily cut costs"?

MARCIA ANGELL: No. I mean, these are investor owned businesses. If they behave like charities, heads would roll in the executive suites. They are there to maximize profits. And that's exactly what they do..."



Measure to Allow Drug Imports Fails
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126093494955393151.html

[woo me with science]

4. Thank you for a dose of reality. Obama's new proposals would also give military families the shaft.

His proposal to the Super Committee brought an elderly widow I know to tears. They spent 30 years in the service, packing up and moving their family from military base to military base every two years, with the expectation that free medical care for life was part of the bargain.

Now Obama wants them to have to pay hundreds in fees per year to belong to Tricare, and he wants Tricare costs for many common prescriptions to increase from 9 to 45 dollars per prescription. This particular widow is looking at her costs to rise from about 100 dollars to nearly 500 DOLLARS every time she fills her prescriptions. She is beside herself with fear and anger. Keep the drones coming, but punish the retirees, the families who devoted their lives to this country.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whitehouse.gov%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fomb%2Fbudget%2Ffy2012%2Fassets%2Fjointcommitteereport.pdf

And even leaving Tricare and our military families aside, you are right. People are getting screwed by the corporate deals made under the table by this administration. Medical costs and prescription costs for the whole damned country keep skyrocketing and people cannot even afford to use their mandatory insurance, to the vast pleasure of the profit-sucking insurance and pharmaceutical companies. These reeking corporate deals feed the one percent, and to hell with the rest of us. It is unconscionable.

[slipslidingaway]

7. That is the difference, pretty words and speeches and then actual proposals ...

are sometimes very telling.

One has to love the words "minor" and "modest" increases in your link for fees and drug co-pays for Tricare. This from an administration who made behind the scenes deals and who blocked any discussion of a national HC system at a pivotal moment as the majority of boomers move from private insurance to Medicare and stand to lose millions of customers.

Insurance companies wanted a mandate without a strong public option, they got what they wanted and so did the drug companies.

Obama's own personal physician of 20+ years was canceled at the last minute from the WH Townhall meeting on HC because he said he was going to ask a question about a single payer, not for profit system, these are the telling moments IMHO.

[truedelphi]

16. When I read the word "OBama" or think the word "Obama" I see that cartoon

Where there is a poker game going on, and Obama is indicating he wants to fold, and the guy sitting next to him says, "But Mr President, the dealer hasn't finished dealing the cards yet."

Anyway thank you, sincerely, for the points you make by reprinting the Moyers' interview.

[slipslidingaway]

19. Unfortunately that image appears all too true ...

you are most welcome.

:hi:

[truedelphi]

20. Solidarity with you and

With everyone else who speaks the truth. (And since the trolls hate the expression I will use it: "Truth to power!")

[slipslidingaway]

22. Thanks, people need the whole truth, many people will suffer because of this deal. n/t

[Mimosa]

17. ^ Truth above ^

Woo Me with Science, the new 'wundercare' hasn't helped me. I'm among those who can't afford health insurance any more. I'm over 55. Nothing about ACA 2010 will stop insurance companies age related pricing meant to price us OUT.

[Swede]

5. K&R

[Cigar11]

6. Obviously this needs to be Repealed LOL n/

[slipslidingaway]

8. One needs to look at the behind the scenes deals and of course ...

the administration always has to throw a few bones for those who did not pay attention to the pretty speeches.

"That is not who we are..." LOL

Check the Newport News speech by Obama in late 2008 for the above 'great speech.'

[slipslidingaway]

9. President Obama disagrees with Candidate Obama ... Pharma deal

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=653537&mesg_id=654372

"And we are tired of watching as year after year, candidates offer up detailed health care plans with great fanfare and promise only to see them crushed under the weight of Washington politics and drug and insurance lobbying once the campaign is over.

That is not who we are, that is not who we have to be, enough is enough, it time for us to change."

Newport News - October 2008

And some on DU cheered on the ads backed by the Pharma lobby in exchange for cutting this out of HC reform.

The Legacy of Billy Tauzin: The White House-PhRMA Deal

"...Over the following months, pharmaceutical industry lobbyists and executives met with top White House aides dozens of times to hammer out a deal that would secure industry support for the administration's health care reform agenda in exchange for the White House abandoning key elements of the president's promises to reform the pharmaceutical industry. They flooded Congress with campaign contributions, and hired dozens of former Capitol Hill insiders to push their case. How they did it — pieced together from news accounts, disclosure forms including lobbying reports and Federal Election Commission records, White House visitor logs and the schedule Sen. Max Baucus releases voluntarily — is a testament to how ingrained the grip of special interests remains in Washington..."

[Number23]

10. K&R Nice going, President Obama!

[slipslidingaway]

11. That was a great deal for the drug companies, and a nice speech...

"And we are tired of watching as year after year, candidates offer up detailed health care plans with great fanfare and promise only to see them crushed under the weight of Washington politics and drug and insurance lobbying once the campaign is over.

That is not who we are, that is not who we have to be, enough is enough, it time for us to change."

Newport News - October 2008"

Pretty speech and then he did what he argued against in the speech, but the drug companies ran ads in support of the mandate so it is all good. And now we need to cut 'entitlements' cause a deal was made instead of pursuing his detailed HC plan. Then again the entitlement speech was given before Obama was in the WH in early 2009.

:evilgrin:

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Knight Hawk]

12. You do realize.............

that 500 billion dollars was taken out of the Medicare Advantage program,don't you?It just so happens that people in this program have seen their fees increase and benefits decline.You know who benefits and uses the Medicare Advantage programs? The middle and lower middle class.It is too complicated to discuss here in detail but the program in not used by the savvy upper muddle classes and NEVER by the rich.Obama help pay for some of his program off the backs of the poorest.SHAME! SHAME!

[slipslidingaway]

14. Extra Payments to Medicare Advantage Plans - only a portion of the savings

from Medicare that is to be used to finance HC reform will come from Medicare Advantage.

This from a couple of years ago, but I believe that any saving in the Medicare program should stay in Medicare and not be used to offset a mandate to purchase for profit health insurance.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4147072&mesg_id=4147539

b]Medicare will see enrollment grow from 46 million to 79 million in the next two decades when the baby boomers move from private insurance to Medicare.

One would think that most savings from MA plans, fraud and improvement from efficiencies remain in the Medicare plan to help with the expected rise in enrollment.



"...The Congressional Budget Office estimates that bringing MA payments in line with traditional fee-for-service Medicare would save $157 billion over the next 10 years. Recent steps taken by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that reduce the payments made to private MA plans in 2010 do not address the factors responsible for the $11.4 billion in extra payments, the authors say.

The authors note that funds saved by eliminating extra payments to private plans could be used for other purposes, such as offsetting the costs of Medicare policy improvements—including reducing the Part B premiums that Medicare beneficiaries pay or increasing eligibility for low-income subsidies in Medicare Part D—or offsetting part of the cost of expanding health insurance to the 47 million uninsured..."

[Mimosa]

18. ^ RIGHT! ^ Read post above for real info.

:)

[Scuba]

15. There are some good things in what is otherwise an apparent attempt...

... to prove that "government can't do healthcare". This is one of them.

[Number23]

21. Kicking again! Glad to see some good news on this

:patriot:

[slipslidingaway]

23. Video - President Obama's campaign ad on Billy Tauzin...

before making the Pharam deal with Billy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCRO0g9CfAw

This was deleted from the thread.

:shrug:

[great white snark]

24. K&R. Thanks Mr. President.

:kick:

[slipslidingaway]

25. William Greider:Obama's $80 Billion Deal with Pharma Is a Very Bad Deal for Us

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6252473&mesg_id=6252473

A Rancid Deal with Big Pharma
http://www.thenation.com/article/rancid-deal-big-pharma

"So now we know why the president wants everyone to make nice in the healthcare debate. His White House has cut a deal with Big Pharma that smells like the same old rotten politics that candidate Obama regularly denounced and promised to end. The drug industry agrees to deliver $80 billion in future savings and the president promises the government will not use its awesome purchasing power to negotiate lower drug prices.

Wow. This is roughly the same deal that George W. Bush cut with the drug makers when he was legislating Medicare's new coverage of drug purchases. It is the same bargain that Democrats in Congress universally condemned as wasteful and corrupt. The deal does not smell any better now that a Democratic president is embracing it..."

[jamieque]

26. Sigh....

Obviously, like William, you as well as many on this forum are unaware of how hard it is being president of this nation. Here is my advice... why don't you run for office and see how much 'fun' it really is to have to deal with assholes on a daily basis. I am sure your attitude would likely change very quickly. And don't you dare make some sort of irritating snide remark to me about being wrong. The fact that Obama has being trying his damn best to help us makes me very proud of the guy. He has been given very hard to near impossible task/job to fix what is undoubtly a fucked up system that only got that way due to mismanagement and abuse over the course multiple years.

Now, if you think Obama can somehow magically fix these huge problems just because of what he said as canidate Obama you are kidding yourself. Oh and by the way canidate Obama and president Obama is the same FUCKING GUY! The only difference is that President Obama has more experience from being on the job for 3 years then his younger self did. He hasn't changed who he is. However, unfortunately, it seems to me that many of his so-called supporters have changed themselves and sadly not all of those changes have been for the better. Obviously, you and so many others here on this forum will never be satisfied with him no matter what he does or says. If you think he is screwing up so bad or that you are having buyer's remorse then consider what things would be like had McCain and Sarah Palin won...

Now that is a really scary picture to imagine and yet so many people stupidly keep crying and complaining about how Obama isn't living up to their expectations. Well, here is a little advice from me... live with it and focus on the REAL cause of your problems. And you know who they are... RIGHT! I hope you do because putting another republican president in the white house would be a stupid suicidial mistake on the part of the people of this country. The republicans have gone out of their way over the decades to wipe out the middle class aka you, me and pretty much everyone else not making over $250,000 a year. And yet you want to complain about something like this... Are you kidding me?! No, I am not going to appolgize for speaking out on this fact.

The republicans are who we should be focusing on removing from the halls of power in Washington along with those democratics who aren't living up to their duties and responsiblities. They are the reason Obama is having to deal with all these unpleasantly hard issues in the first place. They have consistantly gone of their way to ruin our lives and yes there have been some corrupt democrates helping them along the way and yet you guys constantly blaming Obama EVERY SINGLE TIME! Stop and think for pity's sake what you are doing. All this buyer's remorse is exactly what the republican's want us to do so they can put their own puppet president in office. A president, who by the way, will help them continue their crusade of wiping out all of our rights and benefits as citizens of this nation. They will not stop until the unions are dead and gone like the dinosaurs and then where will we be. Then you'll be really be complaining but it won't make one bit of difference at all then because it will be too late.

So while you have a right to complain please remember what Obama has to deal with. In other words give him the benefit of the doubt. He has only been in office for 3 years for pete sake whereas Bush was in office for 8 depressing years. Would you be happy with do nothing president or one who at least gives damn about trying to help us. Please should some gratitude for the president and the hard job he has to do in this difficult time in our history. While, I may agree he could do some things better I understand that he has been put in situations that were already around long before he took the job. The true measure of a president is to make difficult decisions that will have long term benefits for citizens of the country. Not all decisions will be popular or easy to swallow but if they are made with the good of the citizens in mind then I think he has done his job. It is up to us to do our own part in making sure what the president is trying to is not in vain.

Sure he isn't perfect but neither are you or me or any of us on this forum. We have to stop this villifying the president shit now before it destorys us because mark my words it will. I am glad to see the Occupy movements going on now but I pray and hope that these people remember to use their power to effect real change in the voting booth next year. Vote for real change and I don't mean getting rid of Obama because he is at least making a REAL effort to change things... no... I mean vote the deadwood republicans and democrates out and put some real progressives in. Do that and I bet you will see a huge difference.

However, that is only one part of fixing the problem. The other part is to make absolutely sure that everyone remembers that WE, not Washington, the state or local governments, are the ones who have the true power. The politicians are nothing more then public servants whoms job is to serve ALL OF US!

We the people are the true power that makes this country function and it past time that we exercise our power to take back this nation for liberty and justice for all... If we don't then we are not exercising our patrotic duty as american citizens. The true solution to our currently problems begin and end with all of us and never let anyone else in the fucking media or congress, especially on the republican side of the table, that is not the truth. They only have the power we chose to give them. If they aren't going to help us then to hell with them all...

The simple fact is that it is past time to change things in this country.

[ellisonz]

28. Now that's a response...

:nuke:

+10,000

[slipslidingaway]

29. This is the same old standard defense that is used for any issue that ...

Obama has backtracked on.

Let's summarize your defense ...

- it is hard being president

- why don't you run for office

- he has been doing his best and you're very proud of him

- he has been given an impossible job (he campaigned and wanted the job)

- he cannot magically fix the problems

- he has not changed what he said during the campaign, the supporters have (or they did not listen)

- he is not perfect

- the Republicans will be worse

ETC. ETC.


Time and time again these are the same reasons for almost every issue and the specifics are just ignored, in this case the 80 billion dollar Pharma deal.

So let's get back to the original point and you can post all the supporting links to how he tried his damn best on This particular issue instead of giving the canned response. Nobody ever seems to want to do that as they would prefer to speak in generalities.

Obama detailed in his HC plan that he would repeal the ban on government from negotiating drug prices in the Medicare program, he even made an earlier campaign ad entitled "Billy" which I posted above talking about the bill which did not allow negotiated prices under the Medicare Drug Act and how Billy went on to be a lobbyist for the drug companies.

Links below, this is from the Obama/Biden HC plan ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6622945&mesg_id=6622945


"...Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices. The 2003 Medicare Prescription Drug
Improvement and Modernization Act bans the government from negotiating down the prices of
prescription drugs, even though the Department of Veterans Affairs’ negotiation of prescription drug
prices with drug companies has garnered significant savings for taxpayers.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden will repeal the ban on direct negotiation with drug companies and use the resulting savings, which could be as high as $30 billion, to further invest in improving health care coverage and quality..."

He then went on to give a speech about HC in late 2008 in Newport News stating ...
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0810/04/bb.02.html

"...And we are tired of watching as year after year, candidates offer up detailed health care plans with great fan fare and promise only to see them crushed under the weight of Washington politics and drug and insurance lobbying once the campaign is over. That is not who we are. That is not who we have to be. Enough is enough. It is time for us to change..."

A few months later he made the 80 billion dollar deal with Billy Tauzin, so what did he do in those few months to bring this issue to the American people in order to achieve his detailed HC plan?

HC was a main focus of the last election as it should have been, but it was also a critical time in that a large majority of boomers would be moving from private HC plans to Medicare. Obama said in his early January 2009 speech that deficits need to be tackled and a large portion of the reduction would come from entitlements. If entitlements would play a large role then we needed to extract as many concessions as possible from the drug and insurance companies. This fight, IMHO, needed the involvement of the people and anyone who could offer a threat to the for profit system should not have been excluded from the talks. Insurance companies knew they would lose customers and see their profits decrease, at the same time our nation's responsibility for seniors would increase. It was the perfect time to take this fight to the American people. What the drug and insurance companies feared most was a national HC system funded through taxes and this "card" should have been used to gain as much as possible.

Obama did not even have to back a national HC system, but he at least should have advanced the issue. Instead we now have tax payer dollars used to prop up the declining profits of wall street firms. No wonder OWS is mad at both sides, they should be. We will not even get in to the whole "look forward" on torture issue as another example of why people are not so trusting.

Many people can take a loss and move forward, but first you want to see a real fight, we did not see that in my opinion. There was so much more that could have been done.


"And don't you dare make some sort of irritating snide remark to me about being wrong."

You've gone out of your way to say I'm wrong, so please post your supporting links for him doing his damn best on this particular issue.

[slipslidingaway]

31. Any links to say Obama tried his best on this particular issue? n/t

[slipslidingaway]

30. Listen to this Thom Hartmann segment on scalping drugs ...

the Obama 80 billion dollar deal with Billy Tauzin only covers brand name drugs. Then what happens to generic drugs (like Cytarabine) are we going to make the problem worse with profits on brand name drugs being higher?

Start at the two minute mark

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=639371&mesg_id=639371


"So, have you ever scalped a pair of tickets for a baseball game? Better yet - have you ever scalped some cancer drugs to save your life? That's right - scalping drugs is the latest "get rich quick scheme" in our distorted health care system that's costing tens of thousands of people their lives each year - but making big money for doctors, health insurance providers, and pharmaceutical companies. Right now there are more than a half million cancer patients in the United States who can't get the medication they need to save their lives. And the reason is - companies are buying up all the drugs at wholesale - and then trying to sell them back to hospitals and patients at anywhere between 650 to 4,000 percent above costs. They're the scalpers - and they operate in a "grey market" - without safety regulations - calling up hospitals all around the nation to pass off their drugs at new super-high prices. Here's the kicker - it's perfectly legal..."

Executive order by Obama could make matters worse ...

"If it just requires manufacturers to report a drug shortage, then people who are making money off this will find an obvious entry," he said."

Might as well just flash a Buy signal for companies like Allied Medical.