First some consumers found they couldn't keep their existing health insurance plans. Then others learned they couldn't keep their doctors. First some consumers found they couldn’t keep their existing health insurance plans. Then others learned they couldn’t keep their doctors. Now it’s possible that under Obamacare, some people won’t be able to keep their medications, or at least not afford them, under the complex formulary structure of the plans on the health exchanges and because of the rising costs.
Can You Even Keep or Afford Your Medicine Under Obamacare?
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius addresses an audience at the Progressive Community Health Center in Milwaukee, Friday, Nov. 15, 2013. (AP/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Michael Sears)
“If you like your medicines, you may not be able to keep them under Obamacare,” health policy analyst Scott Gottlieb wrote in a Forbes column. “Health plans are cheapening their drug formularies – just like they cheapened their networks of doctors. That’s how their paying for the benefits that President Obama promised, everything from free contraception to a leveling of premiums between older (and typically costlier) beneficiaries, and younger consumers.”
The affordability of prescriptions could hinge on whether a consumer is enrolled in a platinum, gold, silver or bronze plan.
Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, those earning up to 250 percent of the poverty level will qualify for cost-sharing reductions on prescriptions. That applies to those earning less than $60,000 for a family of four and $30,000 for an individual. That’s only if they are enrolled in the silver plan on the exchange.
In some cases, to be covered at all, the drug will have to be included in the plan – similar to how doctors must be part of a network covered by insurance, he wrote.r doctors. Now it’s possible that under Obamacare, some people won’t be able to keep their medications, or at least not afford them, under the complex formulary structure of the plans on the health exchanges and because of the rising costs.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius addresses an audience at the Progressive Community Health Center in Milwaukee, Friday, Nov. 15, 2013. (AP/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Michael Sears)
“If you like your medicines, you may not be able to keep them under Obamacare,” health policy analyst Scott Gottlieb wrote in a Forbes column. “Health plans are cheapening their drug formularies – just like they cheapened their networks of doctors. That’s how their paying for the benefits that President Obama promised, everything from free contraception to a leveling of premiums between older (and typically costlier) beneficiaries, and younger consumers.”
The affordability of prescriptions could hinge on whether a consumer is enrolled in a platinum, gold, silver or bronze plan.
Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, those earning up to 250 percent of the poverty level will qualify for cost-sharing reductions on prescriptions. That applies to those earning less than $60,000 for a family of four and $30,000 for an individual. That’s only if they are enrolled in the silver plan on the exchange.
In some cases, to be covered at all, the drug will have to be included in the plan – similar to how doctors must be part of a network covered by insurance, he wrote.
To continue reading this visit http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/12/09/can-you-even-keep-or-afford-your-medicine-under-obamacare/
No comments:
Post a Comment