Agreement Seen On Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit

The government would then assume 75% of losses up to 5% and 90% beyond that.

The private sector exposure would increase in the third year of the plan by a still uncertain amount.

Mohit Ghose, a representative of the Washington-based American Association of Health Plans, says that private health plans believe they can provide a prescription drug benefit just as they do in the Medicare+Choice program if funding is available.

Ghose notes that two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries who select the Medicare+Choice option have a prescription drug benefit.

He adds, however, that drug coverage under the Medicare+Choice program has been decreasing due to a lack of funding from Congress and the administration.

Ghose says that at press time, AAHP also has not seen details of the possible agreement.

For an update on the pending proposal, see National Underwriters Web site at www.nationalunderwriter.com.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, June 9, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.