Drugmakers Pushing to Roll Back Seniors' Prescription Discounts

Drug companies are lobbying Congress to roll back recently mandated medication discounts for U.S. seniors, and opponents warn the effort could potentially hike drug costs for Medicare enrollees, reports the Chicago Tribune . Medicare currently covers most drug costs until a beneficiary and their plan pay $3,750, and then the coverage drops and is not reinstated until the beneficiary's total out-of-pocket costs, including what pharmaceutical firms pay in discounts, total $5,000. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission says nearly 30 percent of seniors hit this threshold in 2014, and more are feeling the impact as costs climb for drugs to treat conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, and cancer. Drugmakers had been mandated to implement a 50 percent discount on their products once seniors hit the spending limit, and bipartisan legislation raised that discount to 70 percent. The drug industry argues this increase is excessive, and claimed that it supports seniors paying less for drugs, but not at companies' expense. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America wants insurers to pay a greater share of the cost, while senior advocates are against reducing the discounts. "This was a real win for Medicare beneficiaries," said AARP's Megan O'Reilly. "We need to protect that and not be rolling it back."