The panel was pressured by the White House and Treasury Department to support the plan. After weeks of appeals by the administration, he did so on Monday – even some officials involved with the scheme were surprised and believed the panel would not ring.
“I was shocked to learn of Sigis’ previous concerns and concluded that the cards were nonstart,” said one person.
Sigis’ representatives did not respond to a request for comment. Officials at the White House, the Treasury and Medicare did not respond to requests for comment.
The panel’s approval removes one of the ultimate major hurdles in Trump’s plan, but the cards still face logistical hurdles that could eventually prevent their rollout, cautioning four people with knowledge of the plan.
Administration officials have yet to address operational concerns, including how the government plans to provide information about the cards to seniors and how many could be sent before Trump leaves office on Jan. 20. The incoming Biden administration is not expected to support the program.
Under Trump’s $ 2.3 billion plan – which he announced in late September, amid a number of polls with seniors – the administration quickly sent letters to millions of Medicare beneficiaries informing them of an upcoming discount card. Administrative officials also hoped that the letters would be sent before October 15 before Medicare open registration begins to inform senior officials of the purchase decision. Medicare’s admissions period closed last week.
But Trump’s plan faced significant scrutiny from Democrats, who alleged it was an attempt to increase their popularity from the key demographic before the election. Top advocates for the health department also warned that the scheme could violate election law by perceiving it as a last-minute attempt to oppress voters.
The White House has introduced the plan as a legally authorized “test” of the Medicare program, but drug policy researchers have questioned the usefulness of the effort. Seniors typically spend thousands of dollars each year on drug costs, and previous studies have found similar coupons eventually increased spending on drugs. The plan will be paid for by tapping one of Medicare’s trust funds.
“This is an extremely bad policy,” said Stacey Dusetzina, a professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University who studies the cost of the drug. “It’s not a real or valid experiment, and we won’t learn anything new from it.”
