We examined out-of-pocket medical spending by persons with and without chronic conditions using data from the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Our results show that mean out-of-pocket spending increased with the number of chronic conditions. The level of this spending also varied by age and insurance coverage, among other characteristics. Out-of-pocket spending for prescription dru...

The recent IJHPR article by Schwartzberg and colleagues presents new data on the growing problem of prescription drug shortages. Resolving shortages typically involves many participants: government, industry, physicians and healthcare facilities. Israel has a strong record of informal collaboration that can fix drug shortages quickly. The success of Israel's informal collaborations, as well as ...

Potential impacts from two methods of changing prescription drug ingredient reimbursement in the Wisconsin Medicaid program were estimated. Current reimbursement amounts were compared with those resulting from either direct prices for eight manufacturers' products and average wholesale price less 10.5 percent for other products or wholesaler cost plus 5.01 percent for all products. The resultin...