Raising Part D Donut Hole Discounts To 75% Proposed By President

10 Apr 2013

• By Scott Steinke

President Obama’s 2014 budget plan contains some new drug reimbursement ideas, including increasing the brand drug discount used in the Medicare Part D donut hole to 75% and slashing the Part B drug rate to ASP+3%. Many familiar proposals are reprised – a stronger IPAB, mandatory drug rebates for Medicare/Medicaid dual-eligibles, eliminating pay-for-delay generic drug deals and reducing biologic product exclusivity.

The White House budget proposal for fiscal 2014 contains some new items related to biopharmaceuticals compared to years past, including increasing the discount for brand drugs used by Medicare Part D enrollees in the donut hole to 75% and reducing the Medicare Part B drug reimbursement rate to average sales price plus 3%.

HHS’ proposed overall budget for 2014 would be $80.1 billion, an increase of $3.9 billion over the enacted appropriation for...