Pricing drugs on international index may cause concern
Access to affordable health care is one of rural America’s most serious challenges. Limited resources and high patient loads overwork rural physicians. In rural areas, there are 13 practitioners per 10,000 people. Compare that to urban areas where the ratio is 31 practitioners per 10,000 people. Rural physicians provide a much wider scope of services to their patients than their urban-based counterparts. There is concern that the International Pricing Index Model for drugs will aggravate shortages of clinical drugs for vulnerable rural populations who would not be able to afford health care without Medicare support.
