Health reform draws pharmacy’s support, but alarm from insurance industry

Passage of the mammoth health-reform bill Sunday night by the U.S. House of Representatives is drawing guarded support from several sectors of healthcare industry, including community pharmacy providers, physician groups and the pharmaceutical industry. But the insurance industry is expressing alarm over provisions in the bill aimed at forcing insurers to cover Americans regardless of pre-existing conditions.

The bill — expected to be signed into law as early as today by President Obama — will add 32 million more Americans to the rolls of the insured, according to widely used estimates, and will cost roughly $940 billion over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office predicted. However, those costs will be offset by cuts in Medicare payments to doctors and hospitals, and by increased taxes on Americans earning more than $250,000 a year; the result will be a net savings over the next decade of $130 billion, the CBO estimates.

For pharmacy retailers, the House bill retains some key pharmacy-friendly elements long sought by the industry [see story posted earlier today by Drug Store News online editor Allison Cerra]. Among those provisions: a higher payment formula for Medicaid prescriptions, an end to some recently imposed curbs on the sale of durable medical equipment and diabetic supplies by retail pharmacies, and new transparency requirements on pharmacy benefit management companies. The bill also would fund a series of pilot programs to demonstrate the viability of medication therapy management by pharmacists, as well as improvements to the Medicare Part D MTM benefit.

Representing the drug industry, the trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America [PhRMA] issued a statement late Sunday in support of comprehensive health care reform and accompanying reconciliation legislation in the House. “We continue to believe that comprehensive health care reform will benefit patients and the future of America,” noted the group. “That’s why we…support action by the House to approve the Senate-passed bill along with the amendments found in the reconciliation legislation. Read more....