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Health & Fitness

Fairfield County One of Biggest Medicare Spenders

A  new report out of Dartmouth is focusing on how Medicare beneficiaries, age 65 and older, are spending money on prescriptions. Connecticut is one of the top 10 highest spending states in the country per patient. One huge factor in this statistic, as the data analysis by the Dartmouth Atlas Project shows, is that Medicare relies mainly on name-brand prescription drugs rather than the generic brands, especially in wealthier counties like Fairfield.

Senior spending on medication in Connecticut averages $2,795 a year, 45 percent more than that in the nation’s lowest spending state, Minnesota. Connecticut seniors are also more likely to use medications for insomnia and depression than any other state.

While the study certainly found some correlation between spending and the health conditions in each region across the country, Dr. Nancy Morden, a lead author of the study, said there’s more to the story. The geographic swings in prescription quantity and quality “suggest that there’s something in the regional practice culture, and perhaps in the patient culture, that is driving these patterns.”

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While Connecticut patients filled fewer prescriptions than most other states, their spending was still much higher. “If you see high spending, without high quantities, it’s fair to assume that your prescribers are selectively using more expensive products,” Morden said.

Connecticut seniors use 30 percent more brand name prescriptions than generic which is the highest ratio in all of New England. The national average is 26.3 percent. All of Connecticut’s neighboring states fall below the national average. The study found the highest brand name usage by hospital area, in this order, is Greenwich, at a whopping 40 percent, followed by Stamford and Norwalk. The only other areas of the country that had brand name usage close to that of Greenwich was South Beach, FL and Encino, CA. 

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The Dartmouth team has yet to find a specific reason for such high brand name usage, since generic drugs are just as effective as brand-name, only cheaper. Medications for a few conditions are only available in brand name, but those few instances aren’t enough to explain such large percentages of brand-name usage.

Unfortunately, Medicare patient costs across the country are driven higher by such high spending. The researchers hope that this study will raise awareness with policymakers to help lower Medicare costs so that senior health care can become more equalized.

 

Always consult your chiropractor or primary care physician for all your health related advice.

Story Credit

Image Credit: Prescription Prices Ver3 by Chris Potter. Used under a creative commons license.


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