Title

Health Care Reform And The Pharmaceutical Industry: Crucial Decisions Are Expected

Keywords

Health care costs; Pharmaceutical reform; Social insurance; Wonder drugs

Abstract

For the past 30 years, the largest growing segment of the United States economy is the health care industry. The United States is in a transitional period as American citizens born between 1946 and 1964, the Baby Boomer generation, reach retirement age. In recent years, pharmaceutical costs have been rising faster than the inflation rate, leaving the American public to ask many questions. A major area of interest to policymakers regarding the health care reform agenda is patient spending on pharmaceutical items. Government-funded programs such as Medicare and Medicaid are facing the possibility of running out of funds and require substantive reform. Pharmaceuticals are not covered under the basic Medicare programs. As a result, senior citizens are forced to cover their prescription expenses out of pocket or purchase supplemental insurance plans. This extra expense is leaving many senior citizens across the country struggling to support their ongoing medical needs. © 2002 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

Publication Date

1-1-2002

Publication Title

Health Care Manager

Volume

20

Issue

3

Number of Pages

22-32

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1097/00126450-200203000-00004

Socpus ID

0036516323 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/0036516323

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