Fixing flaws in Medicare drug coverage that prompt insurers to avoid low-income patients

摘要

Medicare assigns beneficiaries receiving low-income subsidies to plans with premiums below regional benchmarks. The number of these low premium plans fell in 2009, forcing the reassignment of 1.6 million beneficiaries. Using data from Part D plans, we found that CMS’s current risk adjustment scheme does not sufficiently compensate plans for the greater drug spending of low-income subsidy beneficiaries. Since plans can avoid these beneficiaries by raising their premiums above that of their competitors, premiums for all beneficiaries tend to rise over time. Paying more for subsidy and less for non-subsidy beneficiaries, or accounting for past drug use in the risk adjustment scheme could mitigate these perverse incentives.