Doctors’ Lounge
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vidual patient have supported this stance.
But the proposed rule for 2015 will limit
antidepressants to 15 drugs. As of 2016 the
antipsychotic class would be in jeopardy
(CMS may be waiting to see first the effect of
limiting antidepressants). Immunosuppressants will no longer be “protected” and that
means that insurance companies will have
a free hand in denying the branded ones.
We already know what happens when
patients well stabilized on certain drugs
hit the doughnut hole and run out of their
medications: they end up in the hospital, or
on the street, or in jail. A 2013 study of more
than 180,000 people with bipolar disorder or
schizophrenia showed that costs attributed
to loss of coverage were related to increased
hospitalization, and that people who had
continuing funds for generic medications
had lower costs and better health outcomes.
As for the medically ill, who run out of
insulin, anticoagu [