HCFO Grantee Quoted in a Health Behavior News Service article on Medicare Part D

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Bruce Stuart, Ph.D., professor at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, was quoted in the January 15 Health Behavior News Service article, “’Doughnut Hole’ Causes Seniors to Skip Diabetes Meds.” The article discusses the doughnut hole and its affect on drug utilization and spending for diabetes. Stuart states, “The co-payment for generic drugs is $8.50 to $10 for the group with generic-only gap coverage. This is just too big a difference in cost. The Medicare generic drug benefit isn’t worth anything for many people.” Stuart completed a HCFO study that examined whether Medicare beneficiaries are likely to react differently when faced with the doughnut-hole “gap” in Medicare Part D than they would with actuarially equivalent continuous coverage.