Taking Apart Part D: A Preview of 2009

That was fast.House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) didn't wait long to call out specific pharmaceutical companies at a major hearing on the Medicare Part D drug program.Early in his opening statement, Waxman cited Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb for the windfall profits they have made off the Part D program due to the switch of dual-eligible Medicaid patients over to Medicare."Johnson and Johnson earned over $500 million in additional profits, much of it from just one drug, the anti-psychotic medication Risperdal. Bristol Myers earned a windfall of almost $400 million, thanks to higher prices for the stroke medication Plavix," Waxman alleged. He continued: "This is an enormous giveaway. And it has absolutely no justification. The drug companies are making the same drugs.... [read full story]