Medicare and Generic Prescription Drugs

A report released by Medco Health Solutions, a pharmacy benefits manager, showed that when prescription drugs are covered by insurance, two-thirds of prescriptions initially filled by people with Medicare are for brand-name drugs, but when people fall into the coverage gap they switch to generics. During the coverage gap, people with Medicare must pay the full cost of the drug. When people with Medicare enter catastrophic coverage they tend to switch back to brand-name drugs, with 59 percent of drugs filled during catastrophic coverage being brand-name. (“Seniors Not Quite Embracing Generic Drugs”, Medco Health Solutions, September 2008).