According to a report on Kaiser Health News;
“the health care reform law’s discount on brand-name drugs for some Medicare beneficiaries has been used by 48,000 people who saved a combined $38 million – $800 on average — through the first two months of this year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.”
As a frame of reference there are some forty-six million people with Medicare. Many of the beneficiaries using the 50% discount were under age 65 receiving disability.
Although many of the drugs do not have a generic alternative, the question has been raised whether the 50% discount is encouraging people to use a brand rather than pay the full cost of a generic. More likely is the possibility that people are unaware of a generic alternative or that the full cost of the generic could be less than 50% of the cost of the brand drug.
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