Leavitt Calls for Modeling the Health Care System after Medicare Part D
FDA News reported last week that Michael Leavitt, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, speaking at the annual PhRMA board meeting,recommended that the United States health care system be modeled after Medicare Part D, calling the new prescription drug program a "resounding success." Specifically, Leavitt asserted that competition and quality standards should control and that consumers should have the ability to compare prices. Moreover, experts "should establish an average price for an episode of care--a combination of procedures that a patient may need."
Leavitt is correct in stating that Medicare Part D has been a success and that competition has driven prices down significantly. In theory, modeling the entire health care system against Medicare Part D sounds promising. Nevertheless, Medicare Part D has been criticized because the program's complexity requires that seniors have assistance from someone with significant knowledge of the intricacies to enroll and therefore is a barrier to those who have insufficient resources. At least arguably, this complexity may only be exacerbated if the same formula is applied to the entire health care system. While Medicare Part D could serve as a starting point for think tanks, it seems premature to have the program serve as a model for the entire health care system.
