The Drug That Could Break American Health

Care Questions
• The Food and Drug Administration
approved the Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm
even though it was criticized by whom:
The FDA overruled, to much criticism, its own
scientific advisory committee and approved the
Alzheimers treatment Aduhelm
• What government health program
will bear the brunt of Aduhelm’s cost:
The federal government will bear the burnt of
the new spending
• Why will the cost of using this drug
have to be covered under Medicare Part B:
Under Part B, beneficiaries pay 20 percent of
the costs of their care, which, for a single year
of Aduhelm treatment, will be at least $11,200
• What will happen to the price of
premiums for Medicare supplemental plans
due to the cost of Aduhelm:
Prices will spike whether they’re on Aduhelm or
not
• What is the term that is used for
people who are covered by both Medicare
and Medicaid:
Dual Eligibles, meaning the states are
responsible for covering much of their out of
pocket cost
• Why would Aduhelm have to be
taken and paid for year after year as opposed
to the Hepatitis drug Sovaldi:
Unlike Sovaldi, Aduhelm is not a cure and states
could be stuck paying year after year
• One of the items that helped pass the
Medicare health policy was that there would
be no government control over whom:
To overcome political opposition, supporters
would have to “promise” that “there would be
no control over hospitals and physicians”
• Does Medicare consider cost as a
factor in their review or decision to cover a
particular technology:
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) now says that “cost is not a
factor in our review or decision to cover
particular technology”
• What might be an incentive for
physicians to prescribe the drug Aduhelm
besides patient care:
Medicare pays prescribing physicians 6% of a
drugs average sale price, a practice that
encourages physicians to prescribe more
expensive drugs, like Aduhelm. At average price
of Aduhelm cost $56,000, a physician stands to
earn $3,360 for every annual prescription
• When looking at Aduhelm in a
strictly medical results view do experts feel
it will have a positive success rate:
I believe, as mentioned early, because its not a
cure, more like a treatment that may not work, it
won’t have a positive success rate.