Humana looses some Medicare Enrollees

As a result of premium bids that are higher than low income, government assigned members of Medicare, Humana expects to loose 10% of them at the beginning of 2009. However, according to the Wall Street Journal, they believe this could be positive for Humana due to the fact that higher prices would increase the bottom line, shares dropped 5% to $41.75 when it was announced that this could lead to a los of 380,000 eligible Medicare members. To ensure drug coverage for these dropped Medicare enrollees, the government will automatically re-enroll them in private drug care provider programs.

Marketing Documents for Medicare Prescription Drug Benefits is Confusing

The Wall Street Journal blog discusses how marketing brochures for Medicare prescription drug plans are doing a bad job of meeting guidelines set forth by the feds in this latest post.

A report published by the inspector general’s office in the Department of Health and Human Services found that 85% of marketing materials did not meet guidelines set out by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Some problems with the documents are that a lot of marketing documents that are produced in conjunction with an insurer and a pharmacy fail to mention that other pharmacies are available. This is required by law. Another problem is that some documents do not include required information on the subsidy that is available to beneficiaries with low incomes.

CDC and Columbia find no link between autism and MMR vaccine

According to this post at the Wall Street Journal Health Blog, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Columbia University did a study that found that there is no connection between the Measles, Mumps and Rebella vaccine and autism.

The two researchers conducted a study based on:

The measles virus from the vaccine could reproduce in the intestinal tract, leading to inflammation and bowel permeability. That leaky bowel could permit the release of chemicals that would make their way to the nervous system, causing trouble.

When conducting the research, they looked at children with gastrointestinal problems who had autism and children with gastrointestinal problems with no autism. Studies showed there was no difference between the two sets of children.

Medicare Pays Too Much for New Generics

According to this article on The Wall Street Journal Blog when the price of generic drugs plunges, Medicare is slow to reflect that price change.

A report published by the Health and Human Services’ inspector general looks at irinotecan, which is a cancer that went generic in February of this year. The average price of the drug factoring in sales of the branded version was $52. During the current quarter, Medicare was paying about $75 for irinotecan, which is still far above the average price.

Read the full report here.