United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2003-04-09 monographic deposited born digital 27 p. GA 1.13:GAO-03-650T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-650T P0b002ee18037664d f:d03650t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-650T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-650T GAO-03-650T Budget activities Drugs Future budget projections Health care cost control Health care programs Health insurance Health insurance cost control Managed health care Trust funds Federal Employees Health Benefits Program Testimony A06611 The House Committee on Ways and Means is holding a hearing on modernizing Medicare and integrating prescription drugs into the program. There are growing concerns about gaps in the Medicare program, most notably the lack of outpatient prescription drug coverage, which may leave Medicare's most vulnerable beneficiaries with high out-of-pocket costs. At the same time, Medicare already faces a huge projected financial imbalance that has worsened significantly in the past year. This statement discusses the challenges of adding a drug benefit to Medicare in the context of the program's current and projected financial condition. It also examines program design issues to be considered with respect to administering any proposed drug benefit. Specifically, it discusses how private sector health plans have used entities called pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) to control drug benefit expenditures. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-650T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-650T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-650T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-650T.pdf GAO-03-650T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-650T Testimony GAO-03-650T; Medicare: Observations on Program Sustainability and Strategies to Control Spending on Any Proposed Drug Benefit; Budget activities Drugs Future budget projections Health care cost control Health care programs Health insurance Health insurance cost control Managed health care Trust funds Federal Employees Health Benefits Program