Why Are Seniors Being Faced With Higher Medical Fees?
Soaring prescription-drug costs are causing many HMOs to raise fees and reduce drug coverage. Many plans are raising co-payments for prescription drugs and limiting the amount of drugs paid for in a year. Several plans are imposing fees to see a physician and some are charging monthly premiums. On the other hand, one HMO is dropping its $30 annual fee but has eliminated coverage of brand-name drugs as well as imposing a $200 deductible for hospital care. Some HMO members have braced themselves to pay more for health coverage. Prescription-drug coverage has been one of the attractions for seniors to enroll in an HMO. Standard Medicare does not cover most drugs prescribed through a doctor’s office. Yet prescription drugs have become more important in treating chronic ailments such as heart disease, high blood pressure and osteoporosis. Prescription drugs have become the fastest growing cost in health care in the 1990’s. Those costs have been passed on to seniors who are more likely to ha
