[MandoMan]

Originally Posted by rustyp

Medicare weighs premium cut after limiting Alzheimer's drug.

Medicare weighs premium cut after limiting Alzheimer's drug

Read articles about this Alzheimer’s drug. Alzheimer’s is a heartbreaking disease, but this expensive drug seems to be only slightly effective, possibly for a limited period, on only a small percentage of sufferers early in the disease’s progress. Many doctors don’t think the FDA should have approved it. I wouldn’t use it.

I remember back around twelve years ago the FDA approved an expensive drug to increase women’s sexual desire. (It’s a serious problem.) I was at the yearly conference of AASECT (the American Society of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Teachers), where I was presenting a paper. There was a session for the entire group (a couple thousand people) to debate use of this drug, and we recommended against it, as testing showed that like the Alzheimer’s drug, it worked maybe a little for a few people and was very expensive. We would have strongly supported a drug that worked well.

We all want a cure for Alzheimer’s, but let’s not let our anguish over the disease lead us to insist on a medication that doesn’t work while leaving taxpayers with the exorbitant cost. Even if we only pay a small part of the cost, We the People are all paying. Let’s hold out for a treatment that works.

[retiredguy123]

In January, the company that makes Aduhelm reduced the cost from $56,000 per year to $28,000 per year. That's Iike a BOGO sale. What a deal!

[Bay Kid]

They cut Dad's SS this year. Said it was the rise of the rise in cost for medicare and secondary insurance.

[craigrmorrison]

Not sure if I’m a fan of reducing premiums across the IRMMA spectrum to offset the out of pocket costs for a medication used by the minority.

At an annual drug cost of $28,000, even reducing the lowest monthly MediCare Part B/D premium of $170.10 to $0 would still make the medication unaffordable for most in need.

[craigrmorrison]

I’m a fan of reducing MediCare Part B&D premiums because everyone who has ever earned a paycheck paid a portion into funding MediCare. Whether it was an actuarial flaw or inappropriate transfers/disbursements the truth should be revealed.

[Hape2Bhr]

Originally Posted by MandoMan

Read articles about this Alzheimer’s drug. Alzheimer’s is a heartbreaking disease, but this expensive drug seems to be only slightly effective, possibly for a limited period, on only a small percentage of sufferers early in the disease’s progress. Many doctors don’t think the FDA should have approved it. I wouldn’t use it.

I remember back around twelve years ago the FDA approved an expensive drug to increase women’s sexual desire. (It’s a serious problem.) I was at the yearly conference of AASECT (the American Society of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Teachers), where I was presenting a paper. There was a session for the entire group (a couple thousand people) to debate use of this drug, and we recommended against it, as testing showed that like the Alzheimer’s drug, it worked maybe a little for a few people and was very expensive. We would have strongly supported a drug that worked well.

We all want a cure for Alzheimer’s, but let’s not let our anguish over the disease lead us to insist on a medication that doesn’t work while leaving taxpayers with the exorbitant cost. Even if we only pay a small part of the cost, We the People are all paying. Let’s hold out for a treatment that works.

This is correct. Aduhelm is for a small subset of those with Alzheimer's, and those who take it need to be wary of brain bleeds. Not anything I would take.

[Boomer]

Originally Posted by Bay Kid

They cut Dad's SS this year. Said it was the rise of the rise in cost for medicare and secondary insurance.

IRMAA comes back to bite you two years after the income threshold for the higher premiums is crossed.

If you don’t know about it, it can be a nasty surprise.

If income is rising because the RMD is rising, a QCD can help if the math works and the taxpayer would rather give part of the RMD to charity. For those who usually give to charity anyway, it can make sense to use the QCD, making sure to follow the instructions exactly.

Someone in this thread or the other one about SS has linked the IRMAA info from the SS site.

Boomer