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Multi-tiered Medicare plans cut prescription costs

Patient Access Weekly Advisor, Medical News Today, September 12, 2007

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The results of a new study appearing online in the Health Services Research journal indicate that seniors enrolled in Medicare plans with higher copayments for brand name or non-preferred medications could spend less and fill fewer prescriptions, which would lower drug spending.

Along with his colleagues, Boyd Gilman, Ph.D., a senior researcher at Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., in Cambridge, Mass. assessed prescription drug spending of 352,760 Medicare beneficiaries with employer-sponsored drug coverage for retirees. The study compared drug spending of members in single-tiered plans to that of members in three-tiered plans.

Seniors in the three-tiered plans were charged higher copays for drugs that were not generic or preferred brand names, while seniors in the single-tiered plans were charged a $5 or $10 copay for all prescribed medications.

In general, the researchers' results indicated that multi-tiered prescription plans reduced drug spending. Medicare beneficiaries in three-tiered plans spent 14.3 percent less total on prescriptions and filled 14.6 percent fewer prescriptions, compared to those in single-tiered plans.

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