University Will Cut Drug Costs in 2-year Test
Hopefully others will follow suit to help with medical costs!
Ruby
In Diabetes Today
23-APR-2006
University Will Cut Drug Costs in 2-year Test
DETROIT - Beginning July 1, at least 2,100 diabetic University of
Michigan employees and dependents will receive many of their essential
medicines for free as part of a two-year pilot program.
The university in Ann Arbor, Mich., will waive co-pays for certain
generic prescription drugs that control blood sugar, blood pressure,
cholesterol and depression and reduce the risk of heart and kidney
problems. It will reduce co-pays 25 percent to 50 percent for
brand-name equivalents of those drugs.
The university is instituting no-pays for diabetes-related drugs
hoping that it will eliminate the cost barriers that prevent employees
and their covered family members from buying and using prescription
medicines that could keep them healthy.
Employees who are enrolled in the university’s health maintenance
organization, M-Care, will be able to get free yearly eye exams to try
to catch early signs of the diabetic eye disease that is a major cause
of blindness.
The idea behind providing medicines and services for free is to
improve employee health and eventually save money, or at least slow
increases in health costs.
University employee Allison Picinotti, 28, said she’s thrilled to hear
about the program. She was diagnosed with diabetes three years ago and
said she’s fortunate that so far she needs only to take insulin. It
costs her about $25 a month.
But in the brief time since she was diagnosed, she already needs much
more of the blood- sugar-regulating insulin. She knows her costs will
go up as she ages.
"I know a lot of patients who spend hundreds of dollars a month on
prescription drugs," Picinotti said.
It’s not uncommon for a diabetic to be on a regimen of six to 10
medicines every day, said Dr. William Herman, director of the Michigan
Diabetes Research and Training Center and medical director of M-Care.
Sometimes people fail to adhere to their medical regimens because of
the cost associated with that many medicines, said Dr. Allison Rosen,
an assistant professor of internal medicine at U-M Medical School.
But a diabetic’s failure to follow her medical regimen can result in
pricier emergency department visits and hospitalizations and
eventually lead to serious health complications such as blindness,
amputations, kidney failure, heart disease and premature death.
When diabetics adhere to their medical regimens, studies show it
prevents health complications, prolongs lives and ultimately saves
money, Rosen said.
The diabetes no-pay pilot, called MHealthy: Focus on Diabetes, is
similar to programs other employers have used for several years to
keep employees healthy and reduce costs, including such employers as
Pitney Bowes Inc. and the City of Asheville, N.C.
The City of Asheville reduced the average annual cost of care for
diabetic workers by $2,000 per person as soon as it started paying the
whole cost of diabetes drugs. And Pitney Bowes has saved more than $1
million each year since it cut employees’ co-pays for diabetes,
hypertension and asthma drugs.
On April 17, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced that it plans to reduce
employee co-pays for certain prescription drugs from $10 to $3.
While the university’s program is similar to the others in design, U-M
believes it will be the first employer in the nation to try to
evaluate the impact of targeted co-pay reductions on employee health
and system-wide health-care costs.
"We hope this effort will yield solid results for our own community
and provide a model for others," said U-M President Mary Sue Coleman.
"Although it will cost us money in the short run, we anticipate it
will save lives and money in the long run."
The university anticipates the two-year pilot will generate less that
$100,000 in administrative costs, and increase diabetes-related drug
costs by $800,000. But officials believe that will be offset by a
lowering of other health-care costs for those patients.
If the pilot is successful, the university plans to continue the
program and extend it to other chronically ill patient groups, such as
those with heart disease and asthma.
U-M started with diabetes because a university analysis showed that a
significant number of patients don’t follow their prescribed drug
regimens, many people suffer from the disease and studies showed that
close adherence to prescribed treatments can improve health
dramatically.
"Because of the evidence of preventive benefit from certain
medications is so strong, and because the opportunity to improve is so
great, diabetes is a natural place to start," said Dr. Robert Kelch,
the university’s executive vice president for Medical Affairs.
Diabetes patients are some of the nation’s most expensive. The
American Diabetes Association reports that nationally, the average
annual health cost for a diabetic person was $13,243 in 2002, compared
with $2,560 for a nondiabetic.
—
Diabetes medication plan
Beginning July 1, the University of Michigan will begin paying the
entire cost of certain drugs for its diabetic employees and their
dependents.
These are the drug classes included:
Blood-sugar drugs of any kind, including insulin, which can be used
alone or in combination to help patients’ bodies process sugar from
food.
Cholesterol-lowering drugs, called statins. They can reduce the
extra-high risk of heart attacks and strokes that people with diabetes
face.
Blood-pressure-lowering drugs of all kinds, including newer classes of
medications called ACE inhibitors and ARBs. They can reduce
cardiovascular risk, too.
Antidepressants can relieve the depression that many people with
diabetes suffer. Antidepressants can increase the chances of sticking
to lifestyle and medical regimens.
In addition to free diabetes drugs for all U-M employees and
dependents, those who are enrolled in the university’s managed care
plan, M-Care, will receive free yearly eye exams to try to catch signs
of a complication that is a major cause of blindness.
—
(c) 2006, Detroit Free Press. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
News Service.
–
April 17th, 2004 at 3:31 am
My insurance company provides all these things at no cost to me if I mail off
for them or locally at a very modest ($4 - $8) copay. The State of Alaska
figures an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. They also pay for
medical based weight loss programs on the 80/20 plan including non-surgical
interventions like Optifast. I never could stick to them, though - enough carbs
in those drinks to send me into a sugar frenzy from whence I would have to EAT!
Don’t know if that has changed, though.
I agree - if insurance providers want to address the issue adequately and
prevent amputations and other such really expensive stuff they need to do
prevention work.
Marsha
In Diabetes Today
23-APR-2006
University Will Cut Drug Costs in 2-year Test
DETROIT - Beginning July 1, at least 2,100 diabetic University of
Michigan employees and dependents will receive many of their essential
medicines for free as part of a two-year pilot program.
April 18th, 2004 at 8:30 am
Reminds me of the whole argument when they were arguing over whether or not to
cover birth control… whole lot cheaper to cover that than prenatal care, the
birth itself, and the resulting child for 18 years…..
Trish
I agree - if insurance providers want to address the issue adequately and
prevent amputations and other such really expensive stuff they need to do
prevention work.
April 19th, 2004 at 12:38 am
i never go to kmart, but yesterday i went twice to the
pharmacy with 2 different people, and picked up a
brochure tht they have there for my mom that said they
are now offering certain generic meds at a 90 days
supply for $15 dollars. it was NOT a medicare D thing
and seems to be for the general public. glucophage and
glyburide were both on there as well as some other
stuff. i thought some of you folks like me that use
glucophage might be interested in checking this out
May 16th, 2004 at 11:46 am
I also went into KMart, and the program is REAL, no catches. I asked
the clerk, and she said "You and your wife are already in the computer,
I’ll just flag you for the $15 program from now on.
I’m uninsured, but THAT price is lower than many people’s co-pays!
I have been buying most of the meds on the liist which I use in Italy
(much cheaper than Canada) but $15/90 day supply beats them !!!
Annie Barker wrote: