Abstract
In their essay, Richard L. Kaplan and Richard W. Olson examine one of the most important problems in consumer choice in the current health care delivery system: choice of prescription drugs and medications in the recently enacted prescription drug benefits of Medicare. Their essay analyzes the new benefits and what their implications are for consumer choice. The authors conclude that the effect of all of the consumer choices is inevitably consumer confusion. This predicament is made worse when one considers that consumers’ future drug needs are not always predictable. Thus, a drug plan—be it in Medicare Part D or one of the alternatives—may be perfectly appropriate today and be totally inadequate in two years, even assuming no structural changes in the plans themselves or in the cost of medications. Clearly, under the new Medicare Part D program, consumer choices will abound. Whether consumers find this array of options comforting or disconcerting very much remains an open question.
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Additional information
Richard L. Kaplan, J.D. is the Peer and Sarah Pedersen Professor of Law at the University of Illinois, specializing in the areas of federal income taxation and policy and elder law. In addition to his books and articles involving taxation and tax policy, he is the co-author of Elder Law in a Nutshell, published by West Publishing Co. (3rd ed., 2003), as well as articles on various elder law topics, including Social Security, Medicare, long-term care financing, and retirement funding. He was a delegate to the National Summit on Retirement Savings and is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. He has served as the faculty advisor to The Elder Law Journal, the nation’s oldest scholarly publication devoted to this subject, since that publication was created in 1992.
Richard W. Olson, J.D. graduated as part of the Class of 2004 from the College of Law, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is currently working in Washington, DC.
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Kaplan, R.L., Olson, R.W. Consumer choice on drugs: Medicare and medications. Ageing Int. 31, 118–137 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-006-1008-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-006-1008-4