New Bone Drug Benefit

The new Medicare drug benefit: much ado about little?

After many years of debate, Congress recently approved a new, voluntary "Medicare Part D" benefit that provides some coverage for prescription drugs. The goal of this coverage is to reduce financial barriers that might prevent beneficiaries from obtaining needed drugs. The degree to which this goal is achieved depends on how well the benefit reaches seniors with previously unmet needs; converse...

How the new medicare drug benefit could affect vulnerable populations.

This study estimates how out-of-pocket drug costs could change for vulnerable populations (racial and ethnic minorities, the near-poor, and seniors with a greater burden of chronic conditions) who qualify for the standard Medicare drug benefit. Although the new benefit might be associated with modest-to-moderate declines in out-of-pocket spending for seniors who do not qualify for subsidies, th...

Kaiser Permanente's prescription drug benefit.

Incretin action on bone: An added benefit?

Identification of the incretin hormones has led to revolutionary advances in the management of type 2 diabetes. There has been much recent excitement about the extrapancreatic actions of incretin hormones. Experimental studies have suggested that glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) could have beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system as well as the kidney, and this is currently an area of int...

Advocating for a Medicare prescription drug benefit.