Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Impact on Senior Citizens of Rising Drug Prices in Medicare to Be Hearing Topic

The Special Committee on Aging will convene Wednesday, March 17, for a hearing to examine the rise of prescription drug prices in America and its impact on senior citizens who participate in the Medicare Part D program. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) will be the acting chairman.

Witnesses will offer testimony on various topics, including cost-sharing under Part D, how pharmaceutical pricing makes it difficult for Part D plans to negotiate discounts, and policy options for closing the doughnut hole and curbing escalating drug prices, according to a news release from the office of the committee chairman, Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI).

“Seniors Feeling the Squeeze: Rising Drug Prices and the Part D Program,” will convene at 2:30 p.m. in Room 562, Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Among those providing testimony will be the following.

● Dr. Gerard Anderson, Director, Center for Hospital Finance and Management, and Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
● John Dicken, Director, Health Care, U.S. Government Accountability Office, Washington, D.C.
● Greg Hamilton, pharmaceutical industry expert, Algonquin, IL
● Willafay McKenna, Medicare Part D beneficiary, Williamsburg, VA
● John Calfee, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C.

The hearing can be viewed live or at a later time by a webcast. A link to the webcast can be found at the committee’s website: http://www.aging.senate.gov/

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