Drugs are now the fastest-growing component of medical care.
Elderly people spend more on drugs than on doctor bills.
HMOs are squeezing other kinds of care because of their own rising drug costs. Medicare does not cover prescription drugs. Private supplemental Medigap policies are available, but the ones with good coverage cost hundreds of dollars a month. Some HMOs offer Medicare recipients drug coverage via managed care plans, but they are finding it ever harder to make money on Medicare patients, and millions of patients have been dropped. Ever since Medicare was enacted in 1965, drug companies have resisted adding full drug coverage to Medicare for fear of controls on drug prices and profits.