Changes in Medicare are likely under President Trump’s administration but the changes could turn out to be positive.
While many are concerned that President Trump’s choice of U.S. Rep. Tom Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services would create massive changes for Medicare recipients, there are also opportunities for positive changes, according to NJ.com in “Make lemonade out of possible Medicare lemon.”
Rep. Price is known as not being a fan of Medicare or any form of federal government health coverage. Medicare could be ended at the federal level and each state could receive a block grant to administer its own replacement program. That could leave open the possibility that individual states could seek to negotiate prescription drug prices with manufacturers, which the federal government is currently prohibited from doing.
While negotiating at the state level would not be as effective at lowering prices as it would be at the federal level, it would still be helpful and Medicare patients could see their drug prices reduced.
Reference: NJ.com (Dec. 26, 2016) “Make lemonade out of possible Medicare lemon.”
