Sicker patients socked with higher copays
April 15, 2008Healthcare analysts said U.S. health insurers are rapidly adopting a new pricing system that is boosting copays for expensive prescription drugs.
The New York Times said the new pricing system, which often charges patients 20 percent to 30 percent of the cost of the drugs, can add up to thousands of dollars each month for some people. The Tier 4 system is incorporated into 86 percent of Medicare drug plans and is included in 10 percent of private insurance plans, the newspaper said.
Private insurance companies said they began offering the Tier 4 plans at the request of employers. Critics say the program is poor social policy.
"This is an erosion of the traditional concept of insurance," Dan Mendelson of the research group Avalere Health told The Times. "Those beneficiaries who bear the burden of illness are also bearing the burden of cost."
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
-
Financial burden of prescription drugs is dropping: Costs remain a challenge for many
Feb 08, 2012 |
4 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Medical debt keeps rising, new report shows
Feb 06, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
US health insurance costs up 9% in year: study
Sep 27, 2011 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
-
Three quarters of those who have lost jobs and health insurance are skipping needed health care
Aug 24, 2011 |
not rated yet |
1
-
New birth-control rules may shake up behavior
Aug 09, 2011 |
4 / 5 (4) |
4
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (33) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (5) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
-
Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011
- More from Physics Forums - Independent Research
More news stories
Social psychologist: Lust makes you smarter and evidence that seven deadly sins are good for you
(Medical Xpress) -- Good news for lovers on Valentine’s Day - the seven deadly sins, including Lust, are good for you. University of Melbourne social psychologist Dr Simon Laham uses modern research to make a compelling ...
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
12 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
Research finds injuries to professional athletes from routine play or practice often reported as 'freak accidents' in me
(Medical Xpress) -- A new report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy finds injuries to professional athletes from routine play or practice are often characterized as freak accidents in ...
7 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
Researchers find rate of follow-up surgeries after partial mastectomy varies greatly
(Medical Xpress) -- A study conducted at the University of Vermont/Fletcher Allen Health Care and three other sites and published in the February 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association found significant ...
21 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
Cognitive impairment in older adults often unrecognized in the primary care setting
A new study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society reveals that brief cognitive screenings combined with offering further evaluation increased new diagnoses of cognitive impairment in older veterans two to ...
2 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Botox developer rues missing out on billions
Botox developer Alan Scott says he rues the day he handed over rights to the best-selling wrinkle-smoothing drug to a US company for just $4.5 million, saying he might have become a billionaire.
Medicine & Health / Medications
3 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
New molecule has potential to help treat genetic diseases and HIV
(PhysOrg.com) -- Chemists at The University of Texas at Austin have created a molecule that's so good at tangling itself inside the double helix of a DNA sequence that it can stay there for up to 16 days before ...
Researchers' paper wins Best Paper Award for 2011
A paper written by Dr. Paul Gratz and his graduate student, Reena Panda, from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University was selected as one of the best papers from IEEE Computer Architecture ...
New European rocket lifts off on maiden flight
A new lightweight rocket, Vega, lifted off from Europe's space base Monday carrying nine satellites on its inaugural flight, mission control said.
Ordered planar polymers created for the first time
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists under the direction of ETH Zurich have created a minor sensation in synthetic chemistry. They succeeded for the first time in producing regularly ordered planar polymers that form ...
Microsoft India retail site down after 'cyber attack'
Microsoft India's retail website was down on Monday after reportedly being hacked by a Chinese group calling itself Evil Shadow Team.
Chinese city seizes Apple iPads in name dispute
(AP) -- Authorities have seized Apple iPads from retailers in a city in northern China due to a dispute with a domestic company that says it owns the iPad name, an official said Monday. The Chinese company said it is asking ...
Apr 16, 2008
Rank: not rated yet