Image by Amanda M Hatfield via flickr.
Patient care advocates, drug companies, and both Republicans and Democrats are arguing against a proposal from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to eliminate protections for certain classes of drugs, including those for depression and schizophrenia.
Reporting on the proposal last week, Katie Thomas and Robert Pear wrote in The New York Times, “Opponents warn that the proposal, if enacted, could harm patients. Federal officials say it would lower costs and reduce overuse of the drugs.”
CMS estimates that the proposal will reduce overuse of some drugs and result in cost savings of $720 million by 2019, according to an AP article by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar.
Opponents say the proposal could result in increased hospital and physician services if patients can no longer get or afford the medications in six classes of drugs: anticonvulsants, antidepressants, antineoplastics, antipsychotics, antiretrovirals and immunosuppressants. Antidepressants and immunosuppresants would lose protected status in 2015 and antipsychotics would lose it in 2016. The other three classes (anticonvulsants, antineoplastics and antiretrovirals) would continue to be protected in 2015 pending further review by CMS, the proposal said. Continue reading →
