Back in January, we did a post on the gamification technique that the federal government has applied to Medicare in having star ratings on Medicare Advantage plans. A recent article by Reuters further confirms the effectiveness of star ratings in generating higher enrollment for any given Part D plan. As mentioned in our previous post, [...]
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Every now and then you come across an article that just makes you want to clap your hands together in glee. The onset of technology solutions has been met with mixed reactions from the different generations experiencing the shift. On one side you have today’s adolescence who really only know the world of laptops and [...]
Continue Reading →So yesterday, I’m driving home from the gym and the CVS that owns the corner of a big turn I have to make has three signs stuck in the grass right out front all saying that “We accept all Medicare plans!” You know the type of signs I’m talking about. The same size as the [...]
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So cupid is out today and we’ve been hit by the arrow of fiery passion and love for…pharmacy apps. Sigh, if only we could sit in meadows and play sweet ukulele melodies in ode to our favorite apps for pharmacists, but unfortunately the app store has yet to produce a virtual meadow. Maybe next year? [...]
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A new study by Visante for the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), which represents the nation’s leading pharmacy benefit manager (PBMs), touts the possibility to “reduce health costs by encouraging drugstores to compete.” In the article announcing the study, PCMA points to the need for greater use of preferred and limited pharmacy networks for Medicare [...]
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I recently read a U.S. News health article that spoke to how Medicare Advantage plans with higher ratings attract more consumers. This seemed somewhat (to really) obvious, but I read on nevertheless. The article references a study, conducted by William Shrank of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which focused on the impact of [...]
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This is a continuation from the post on the first Monday of November entitled “The First 25 Years”. Yes, I know 1990-2010 is technically only 21 years, but in the name of title parallelism we’re going to discount the math. The analysis of the past three years of the Medicare program has not been fully [...]
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As we mentioned from our post at the end of October, Improving the Relationship between PBMs and Independent Pharmacists, we are taking the last Monday of every month to explore the topic of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Last month we discussed how independents could improve the long-term relationship with PBMs and the bright future that [...]
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What’s not covered in Medicare actually leads to some of the greatest unaccounted for costs in retirement. Health care costs are vastly underestimated in most retirement plans especially given the rate of increase the cost is seeing annually. While I tend to agree with The Motley Fool’s advice on investments, their retirement planning advice on [...]
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