Killing two birds with one stone

A new AARP study estimates that the new Part D Drug Benefit will be cheaper than reimporting drugs from Canada.

The new analysis, titled “The New Math: Cheaper than Canada? The drug benefit may be the better deal,” used the government’s Medicare plan finder to compare “stand alone” plans that cover all of a senior’s prescription needs to the cost of acquiring drugs across the border. It concluded that seniors who enroll in a low-cost Medicare prescription-drug plan would save more in drug costs this year than if they were to buy the same drugs in Canada.

While Canadian drug prices are still cheaper than prices in the United States, AARP found that when a senior includes all out-of-pocket costs — premiums, deductibles and payments for medications — the price is lower.

This is a substantial shift on the part of AARP, which has been a major proponent of efforts to make the importation of Canadian drugs legal.

The drug benefit should be cheaper than reimporting drugs from Canada -- otherwise it'd be fairly useless legislation. (That's not to say the legislation isn't useless on other fronts). When you purchase your drugs from Canada you pay for them out of pocket. With the drug benefit, although you pay premiums and co-pays, your drugs are paid for by insurance. And while drugs are cheaper in Canada -- they're not that cheap.

The thing to realize here is how genius PhRMA's lobbyists are. They were simultaneously able to interdict price negotiation while ensuring the benefit would silence political enemies on a key battle. Couple that with Nevada's attorney general announcing their drug reimportation program has insurmountable legal problems, and well, the chances of lower drug prices through government efforts are just not looking good.

And while you're here, head over to MedGadget's 2005 Medical Weblog Awards and vote for me for best Health Policies/Ethics blog. Thanks!

Comments

[Abby]

There are a couple of wacky exceptiosn though.

For soem reason lamotrogine is a generic in Canada but not here. The cost of paying full freight there is less than it would be w/ many co-pay structures here.

$33.00/ 100 pills. versus $200 w/ AAA discount or from drugstore.com for 60 pills here.