That Was Quick… For First Time Ever Obama Administration Cuts Medicare Treatment For Cancer Patients
Posted by Jim Hoft on Sunday, August 15, 2010, 9:31 AM
HERE COME THE DEATH PANELS…
For the first time in history Medicare will not cover an FDA-approved anti-cancer therapy.
Doug Ross reported:
Just days after the recess appointment of Donald Berwick, the controversial new head of Medicare and Medicaid, the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance posted the following grim news: for the first time in history, an FDA-approved anti-cancer therapy may not be covered by Medicare.
Provenge, a vaccine to treat the recurrence of prostate cancer, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)… Medicare usually covers the cost of FDA-approved anti-cancer therapies. However, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is still reviewing whether it will cover Provenge, and at what rate.
The CMS statute states that Medicare must cover therapies that are reasonable and necessary, while the FDA is instructed to approve drugs that are safe and effective. Because of the conflicting Federal coverage and approval requirements, there are some non-FDA approved drugs (called off-label drugs) that are paid for by CMS. However, with respect to Provenge, it appears that CMS is arguing that while the treatment is safe and effective, it may not be reasonable and necessary. For the first time, an FDA approved anti-cancer therapy may not be covered by Medicare.
A life-saving cancer treatment “may not be reasonable and necessary”? Gee, that kind of decision-making by an unelected federal bureaucracy certainly sounds like a death panel to me.
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Published February 8, 2012 at 8:42 pm - 88 Comments
aro5o75 commented:
Obowma can’t be wasting money on cancer patients, he’s got illegal aliens that need free healthcare.
Granny commented:
Hardly a surprise, given the views of the individual that The Won put in charge of health care. You’ll be seeing more from Dr. Death.
b goldman commented:
I’m sure if it were a life-saving drug for breast or ovarian cancer (women being a federally recognized victim group), it would be reimbursed by medicare regardless of cost.
bill-tb commented:
Seems like the death panels have been set up early.
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
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sandy commented:
If you kill off the old and indoctrinate the young–you are well on your way to permanent rule. That is if you destroy the middle class and replace them with underpaid illegals and use Muslim Millions to win elections.
Change the Change in November.
sandy commented:
b goldman — The clowns running Healthcare believe that women should not be allowed mamograms until the age of 50. Obama wants a level playing field where people with major illinesses reside 6 ft under.
LYNNDH commented:
Sorry Sandy, but b goldman is right. Have you run a race for prostate cancer cure?
Steve commented:
I’m a cancer treatment nurse and I’ve never heard of this med. Oh wait… “It received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for use in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer patients on April 29, 2010″ (from Wikipedia)…thats why; it’s too new, the salespeople haven’t been indoctrinated to sell this yet.
Also…”The current cost of treating men with prostate cancer is about $1,800 per month. Provenge costs US$93,000 for a 1-month course of treatment, or $23,000 per month of survival advantage” (from Wikipedia)
THATS the reason, an extreme cost. Course when the company is the ONLY manufacturer of a drug THEY have to get back all their costs of development.
Having an expensive drug payment denied is NOT your worst concern….its the electrification of your medical records that should scare ya’ll.
One of the major players in electronic record keeping is now developing a program so ANY electronic medical record (EMR) keeping program can talk to every other EMR in the country. Even the governments EMR…..ever wonder how the government is going to be able to deny care to a patient….its by snooping in your EMR with these “marvoleous” ‘puter programs.
So some schlep is going to be in a deep dark basement cubicle with full government authority; and he is going to have access to the “deny” button!
Steve
not good commented:
You mention ovarian cancer then site the prostate cancer rx…..
By the way, the public has no clue about another first happening:
There are suddenly (first time EVER) MAJOR shortages in critical drugs. Common drugs, like intravenous lasix, 50% dextrose intravenous (which saves the life of millions of diabetics every day whose blood sugars might plummet in the hospital) and others.
Propofol (Diprivan), the sedative/anesthesia medication used for virtually all outpatient and simple inpatient surgeries, as well as for safe sedation for people on ventilators is GONE and less safe, less easy to metabolize drugs are being dragged back out of the mothballs.
The reason sited is “manufacturing problems”…….
Who needs official rationing rules when so many can die just from lack of proper drug treatment?
Scary stuff has already been occuring.
Let’s hear it for Obamacare!
jainphx commented:
Now that they have the schools teaching that America is the scurge of the earth, they can make it harder for us that remember what this country was to survive. Kill off by neglect is the by word for these idiots.
But they are the opposite of idiots, they know what they are doing, they are evil and must be defeated. Russia killed off all “intellectuals” and anyone that was in the way. Do we want that here, because it’s happening right before our eyes. Do we sit back and let them take over without a fight, or do we VOTE the scum out of office. Just voting the demoncraps out is only a half measure, the Rino’s must go starting with the Rino leader John McCain.
StrngernFiction commented:
“However, with respect to Provenge, it appears that CMS is arguing that while the treatment is safe and effective, it may not be reasonable and necessary.”
And if this administration hadn’t been doing just what is “necessary and reasonable,” we’d have real unemployment at what 40%.
USMC Thomas commented:
All Republican candidate’s advertising should be required to begin with a clip of Dumbass Nancy Pelosi’s “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it…”
jjones commented:
Denying a particular drug is NOT new. Insurance companies do it all the time. I took a particular medication for years and all of a sudden my insurance company decided it would not cover it any more and if I wanted it it was going to be $285 per month. Of course, they would cover the suggested alternative. Different manufacturer,different drug, same results.
Calling this the beginnings of “death panels” is a stretch at best. While I firmly believe that the new HC laws will lead to rationing and will destroy the best health care system in the world, this is not the beginnings of it yet. Don’t worry,there will be plenty to point to as examples in the future I’m sure
Just_Saying commented:
Sarah Palin was ridiculed for bringing up death panels; now, we are living them.
.
StrngernFiction commented:
It was clearly “necessary and reasonable” for the feds to assault Arizona to make sure that they block this state in its efforts to assist the U.S. Government in fulfilling a core federal responsibility under the constitution and likewise it was no doubt “necessary and reasonable” to enact legislation — without reading it — that completely overhauls our health care system despite the fact that this legislation violates the constitution.
StrngernFiction commented:
Having an expensive drug payment denied is NOT your worst concern….its the electrification of your medical records that should scare ya’ll.
———————————————-
And that jolt when you hit the fence at the re-education camp is a real doozy as well.
susan commented:
Donald Berwick, head of the DDC (Department of Death Care)
Taxpayer1234 commented:
Move over, Dr. Kevorkian–the real Dr. Death has arrived.
Taxpayer1234 commented:
b goldman #3,
Avastin, which is used for breast cancer treatment, has already been declared “too costly” and likely won’t be covered by any insurance anymore. The scariest thing is that the FDA–NOT Medicare–has declared it “costly”. Cost is something OUTSIDE the FDA’s regulatory purview.
This is getting scarier by the minute.
Valerie commented:
jjones
August 15th, 2010 | 10:26 am | #14
“Different manufacturer,different drug, same results.”
You so sure about that “same results” part? I’m not. There’s the drug, or active ingredient, and the formulation, or carrier. The only requirement is to have the same amount of active ingredient, not the same formulation or result.
The formulation can decide whether a person benefits from the active ingredient, or not. If the generic form does not have the SAME formulation as well as the SAME active ingredient in the SAME amount, the results for the patient may not be the same.
Valerie commented:
The FDA is also trying to regulate analytical tests as if they were MEDICAL DEVICES. (Sorry for shouting, I just couldn’t help myself.) That is, they are treating medical test kits to the same level of scrutiny as pacemakers.
http://www.xconomy.com/san-diego/2010/06/14/genetic-testing-companies-in-san-diego-boston-san-francisco-studying-fda-letters/
The purpose of these analytical kits is to collect information about a patient, and they have multiple uses, such as predicting response to a given drug, for instance to select a better cancer therapy. Different people with different genes are known to respond better or worse to certain cancer drugs. Some cancer drugs will kill the patient.
http://www.genomicslawreport.com/index.php/2010/06/11/what-five-fda-letters-mean-for-the-future-of-dtc-genetic-testing/
The end result is that FDA is doing its bureaucratic best to destroy an infant industry with potential to drastically reduce the number of bad medical results.
Instead of seeing the rapid improvement/price drop cycle we enjoy in the field of electronics, we will see the painfully slow, hideously expensive process with increasingly limited alternatives (Did you know that the FDA decides when there are “enough” of a given type of drug on the market? They stop approving drugs when they think there are enough of them.) that we see in the drug field.
Considering that these analytical tests merely provide some information about the patient rather than any direct effect on the patient, one has to wonder at the FDA’s rationale.
JunkyardGod commented:
An expensive drug that adds four months or so to the life of an advanced prostate cancer patient’s life isn’t going to be covered by the government.
I think reasonable people could disagree on whether this is a good or bad thing.
The real pain will come when routine measures are cut back. And I would guess, by the time we get to that point, nobody will even notice because it will be so common and unstoppable.
kate commented:
Mark Levin talked about this on Friday. I wonder how many supporters of the Susan G Komen Foundation voted for Obama and love him like mad this weekend.
It’s hard for me to feel sorry for Obama voters. They’ve got it coming.
The rest of us don’t deserve this.
Buffalobob commented:
Hey AARP executives. How is that Obama care working our for you? Strike that. How is that Obama care working out for the elderly members that you bombarded with Obama care propaganda?
Valerie commented:
FDA wants to kill this kind of industry:
DNA That May Contribute to Each Person’s Uniqueness
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100811085416.htm
links between genes and traits
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100414152138.htm
Twins and arthritis
http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/0711-identical_twins_identical_problems.htm
Microarrays – this is the kind of test. It’s all done outside the patient’s body.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/d/dna_microarray.htm
Breast Cancer
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/08/050810012342.htm
Brain tumors
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100803101926.htm
test to detect people vulnerable to suicide
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre67b5bb-us-obesity-suicide-drug/
***********
We can allow FDA to meddle in this, slow all this down, and make it more expensive. We can allow the FDA to keep the information away from the patients, even if they want to pay for this with their own money. FDA has already taken the position that patients are too dumb to handle the information.
Or, we can give FDA new direction.
This November, it has to be anybody but a Democrat. Party is important.
Elly commented:
Valerie
August 15th, 2010 | 11:08 am | #22
That is exactly right, Valerie. Very good point to make.
Andreas K. commented:
The NHS in the UK is doing the same. They have such a huge deficit and they need to cut down on spending. How do they do that? By cutting funding of certain treatments.
In Germany and Austria those people, who can afford it, have been flocking to private insurances for a few years. Because we know that with the standard nationalized health insurance you’re pretty screwed.
Taxpayer1234 commented:
Valerie:
“Different manufacturer,different drug, same results.”
You so sure about that “same results” part? I’m not. There’s the drug, or active ingredient, and the formulation, or carrier. The only requirement is to have the same amount of active ingredient, not the same formulation or result.
The formulation can decide whether a person benefits from the active ingredient, or not. If the generic form does not have the SAME formulation as well as the SAME active ingredient in the SAME amount, the results for the patient may not be the same.
——————–
Exactly. My mother-in-law was forced to change a medication that was supposedly the “same” as the one Medicare didn’t want to pay for. She became terribly ill. About $20,000 in medical tests later, the docs still had no idea why she was so sick. Fortunately, my husband is a pharma chemist and realized the different formulation was what made her ill. Upon learning this, she stomped into the doc’s office, demanded she get her regular drug back, and has been right as rain ever since.
I hope Medicare is happy about paying $20,000 as a result of its efforts to save a few bucks on an EFFECTIVE drug. Not to mention putting my mother-in-law through medical hell.
As to the cancer drugs, some people might say, “This expensive drug extends life for 5 months? Meh, not worth the money.” What they don’t realize is those SAME drugs are used by patients whose lives are extended longer than just a few months. My dad lived for 3 YEARS longer due to the expensive drugs his docs provided. I treasure every extra minute those drugs gave me with him.
jjones commented:
Valerie
August 15th, 2010 | 11:08 am | #22
______________________________
I was only relaying my experience…I was fortunate that the new medication worked for me. However, my point was that what they(Medicare) are doing with this new treatment is not new or even remotely close to “death panels” There are plenty of things to be concerned about, this just ain’t one of them
notsurprised commented:
A life-saving cancer treatment “may not be reasonable and necessary”? Gee, that kind of decision-making by an unelected federal bureaucracy certainly sounds like a death panel to me.
We were WARNED. And many called Sarah Palin names because of it.
Having lost my Dad to cancer, I always said I would never wish that on anyone. Well, I am having second thoughts now…………..
Redwine commented:
Uh, spam at #33!
Redwine commented:
All gone! My post isn’t spam!
Joanne commented:
http://www.essiacproducts.com/
Here is your cure for cancer, but don’t say it out loud because then the pharmaceutical companies will be upset. Do your own research.
Taxpayer1234 commented:
Joanne,
My husband is a pharma scientist. He has dedicated his entire professional life to helping others. He’s been fortunate to have worked on two blockbuster drugs that have saved MILLIONS from heart attack and stroke, and MILLIONS of others from debilitating pain. How many lives have YOU saved, lengthened, or enhanced?
He now works for a biotech company that specializes in cancer drugs. He and his colleagues do NOT sit around planning how to silence people who come up with alternative remedies. So take your blather and buzz off.
donabernathy commented:
So the Obamacare Cancer policy is SHUT UP AND DIE
Jon commented:
Bunch of uninformed fools. For the record, 14 out of 15 Medicare contractors are currently on the record that they will pay for Provenge.
You’ll most likely find that when all is said and done, CMS is only reviewing this for on-label vs. off-label use. The demand from prostate cancer patients is huge, but for the next year, Dendreon will only be able to treat approximately 2000 men, while they build-out their manufacturing capacity. With 3 facilities, Dendreon will barely be able to keep up with just the on-label indication for this treatment.
I won’t even get into the fallacy of the “high cost” argument. Suffice it to say, the only other treatment available to these patients is Taxotere, an extremely toxic chemotherapy, and when all the add-on costs of chemo are included, it is nearly as expensive as Provenge, and only provides half the survival benefit. (and a much worse quality of life)
Anna commented:
Do you think Americans will REALLY stand for this rationing of life saving drugs?
Just_Posting commented:
‘Just_Saying’ posted on August 15th, 2010 @ 10:28 am: “Sarah Palin was ridiculed for bringing up death panels; now, we are living them.”
Actually, fewer of us will be living them (so to speak) because more of us will be dying much sooner because of them.
All those nurses who campaigned and voted for BHO probably thought his “healthcare” plan would mean more jobs for more nurses. They obviously have a lot (that’s “alot” or “allot”, for those in Rio Linda) to learn; class will commence shortly.
Lily Ledbetter commented:
Welcome to Canada!
Plutarch commented:
There is a principle in consumer protection legislation regarding “unconscionable acts.” Momentarily setting the death panel concerns to the side, there is the matter of unconscionable pricing of drugs arising from the games played by weighting indirect costs and classifying direct costs. There are ways to work this out. However, I think this and the death panel issues miss the point. Given the inalienable rights of each American citizen, only the citizen and the duly licensed attending physician of their choosing should decide what is ‘medically necessary’ and no third-party should be allowed to interfere or deny coverages for a treatment so determined. All medical insurance must cover what is medically necessary. If we need to federalize the reinsurance and stop-loss markets to do so, then we should do exactly that, because that is were the real problem is; the perversion and monopolistic constraints that threatens the evolution of medical technology and treatments.
Of course the question is how to pay for it. But that is not a new question, and now that non-attending “physician predator class” and their death panels are coming out into the open in denying care, making medical decisions regarding patients they have never attended. Such largess is patently malpractice, and they should be stripped of their licenses for advocating such irresponsible practice of medicine. A non-attending physician is NOT ATTENDING THE PATIENT, and has no authority or right to speak to, or professionally, economically or politically exploit the patient’s medical information or medical interests.
The pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of health. It should be sweepingly illegal for any entity or third-party to obstruct a determination of what a citizen and their duly licensed attending physician determine is medically necessary.
Absent this, there is no medical reform worth having.
To not enforce this principle preserving the role of the duly licensed physician in concurrence with the citizen-patient is to otherwise support the tyranny of Eugenics dictating the lives of our children and grandchildren.
The only hope to cure our hospital services costs and prescription drug cost problems will come in innovative reform and federalization of the reinsurance and stop-loss markets, the inclusion of basic consumer protection and RICO legislation made applicable to our hospitals, university and pharmaceutical industries.
We don’t have a medical crisis. We have a hospital cost, university cost, and prescription drug cost crisis.
Death panels only sit to protect the orthodoxy in the universities and their commercial counterparts, and the bizarre exemptions from RICO and consumer protection legislation granted them which apply to every other industry, workplace, product and profession.
End the exemptions and turn the prosecutors loose on the academy and the racketeers.
Then we shall see how the big rats roll.
2Obtuse2 commented:
Yeah, but what your not hearing about are the DemocRat BuruacRat panels to kill old people and retards.