One reason healthcare costs continue to spiral upward despite Obamacare may have something to do with the federal government’s left hand not knowing how much its right hand is paying for certain drugs.
Officials in charge of Medicare Part B paid $132.9 million in dispensing and supplying fees for drugs and equipment used in certain cancer treatments, according to the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel Levinson.
That compares to the $22 million Medicare Part D paid for the same drugs and equipment. The government could have saved taxpayers $111 million by paying the same, lower rate, the IG said in a report made public late Tuesday.
That also compares to the $26.6 million paid on average for the same drugs and equipment by state Medicaid programs. Savings at that rate would have equaled $106.3 million, according to the IG.
Earlier this year, a survey of 126 healthcare insurers and administrators by Buck Consultants found that costs are expected to rise slightly less quickly in 2014, compared to 2013.
Those surveyed represent health care providers serving approximately 119 million people.
Rates charged by PPOs will increase 8.7 percent in 2014, compared to 9 percent last year, according to Buck.
Point-of-service plans will hike rates 8.5 percent, compared to 8.8 percent the year before, while HMOs will increase 8.6 percent, versus 8.7 percent in 2013.
“Even though the decline is good news, most plan sponsors still find 8 [to] 9 percent cost increases unsustainable,” said Harvey Sobel, a Buck Consultants principal and co-author of the survey.
President Obama promised during congressional debate on Obamacare in 2010 that the average family would see health insurance premium costs drop 14 to 20 percent if his proposal became law.
Mark Tapscott is executive editor of the Washington Examiner.
