• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Galen Institute

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Mission and History
    • Grace-Marie Turner bio
    • Who was Galen?
  • Activities
    • Core Activities
    • Commentary and Oped Tutorial
    • Our Book
    • Galen Guides
  • Contact Us
  • Major Papers
  • Broadcast Interviews
  • Health Policy Consensus Group

States Could Solve Problem of Access to Prescription Drugs

POSTED BY Galen Institute on August 2, 2000.

Excerpts from: “Prescribe Freedom: The Government Shouldn’t Touch Pill Chest of Elderly”

Investor’s Business Daily

Republicans and Democrats have both come up with plans to make expensive prescription drugs more available to seniors. But both plans have their drawbacks — such as adding yet another entitlement that subsidizes the wealthy as well as the poor to the already financially-strapped Medicare system.

But the real solution may lie in a program similar to the high- risk insurance pools established by some states.

  • Currently, 28 states have such insurance pools — allowing the market to work for 98 percent of the people while providing a safety net for those who can’t get health insurance because of a medical condition.
  • Congress could create a catastrophic drug benefit plan managed by the states that would kick in when a senior spends about $3,000 per year for prescription drugs — about five times what the average senior spends per year.
  • Once the senior reaches the $3,000 threshold — 6 percent of them spend at least that much — the program would begin paying most or all of the additional costs.

Two-thirds of seniors already have a prescription drug benefit through private insurers or managed care plans. Since private insurers offering drug coverage wouldn’t have to meet catastrophic costs any more — only those up to $3,000 — they could lower their premiums, making standard coverage more affordable and more available.

Such a solution would create a safety net, not an expensive new federal entitlement.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Primary Sidebar

Our Annual Report

Health Care Choices 20/20:

A Vision for the Future

SEARCH

Categories

  • Brian Blase
  • Consumer-Directed Care
  • Doug Badger
  • Grace-Marie Turner
  • Health Insurance
  • Health Policy Consensus Group
  • Health Savings Accounts
  • Innovation
  • Medicaid
  • Medicare
  • Newsletter
  • ObamaCare
  • Prescription Drugs
  • Published
    • Forbes
    • Fox Business
    • Health Affairs
    • LA Times
    • National Review
    • New York Post
    • RealClearHealth
    • Sun Sentinel
    • The Daily Signal
    • The Heritage Foundation
    • The Hill
    • The New York Times
    • The Wall Street Journal
    • The Washington Times
  • Reform Initiatives
  • State Issues
  • Uncategorized

LATEST NEWSLETTER ISSUES

SUBSCRIBE

Social Media

Like Us On Facebook

Twitter: @galeninstitute

 

Copyright Galen Institute at Donors. © 2023; · Log in