RELEASE: CAP Issues Comments to the CMS on Proposed Medicare Part B Payment Rule

Washington, D.C. — The Center for American Progress submitted comments last week to a proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS. CAP strongly supports the proposal to test new ways to pay for medications covered under Medicare Part B.

CAP first outlined how Medicare could take action to lower its drug expenditures in the 2015 report “Enough Is Enough: The Time Has Come to Address Sky-High Drug Prices.” The CMS’s proposals are similar to the Medicare-specific proposals included in this report’s broader package of reforms.

In its comments, CAP recommended several modifications to the proposed rule. For example, CAP recommended that the CMS create a dedicated ombudsman to respond to beneficiary and physician inquiries and complaints during implementation of the new model.

Read the full column, “New Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Proposal Tests Ways to Lower Drug Expenditures,” by Maura Calsyn.

Related resources:

• Enough Is Enough: The Time Has Come to Address Sky-High Drug Prices by Topher Spiro, Maura Calsyn, and Thomas Huelskoetter
• Payment Reform Action Plan: Meeting the New Medicare Payment Reform Target by Zeke Emanuel, Allyson Schwartz, Topher Spiro, and Thomas Huelskoetter
• A Strategy for Medicare Payment Reform by Topher Spiro, Maura Calsyn, and Meghan O’Toole
• The Senior Protection Plan by the CAP Health Policy Team

For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Liz Bartolomeo at lbartolomeo@americanprogress.org or 202.481.8151.