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

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.” [1] 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.