Before 1997, restrictions prevented Medi-Cal, the California Medicaid program, from prescribing atypical schizophrenia drugs. The program insisted that two cheaper, older medications be prescribed before any newer treatments. In 1997, restrictions on prescribing atypical schizophrenia drugs were lifted, doubling the number of patients who returned to work as a result of using new medications. A Better Way. In their effort to show themselves more generous than the other, both Republicans and Democrats have offered plans that are too costly, inflate bureaucracy, and jeopardize choice.
American seniors deserve better.
Rather than complicate Medicare with a convoluted approval process, legislators now have the opportunity to give seniors a choice. The health concerns of seniors, and everyone else, are too important to be sacrificed to political posturing. Laura Dykes is a public policy fellow at the Pacific Research Institute's Center for Enterprise and Opportunity.