Richard Burr: “One thing we have both seen is that anything that we do in the Medicare model is usually replicated at some point not…”

“One thing we have both seen is that anything that we do in the Medicare model is usually replicated at some point not too far down the road in the private sector plans that employers provide for their employees. I know that the gentleman is familiar with a frustration that we have had over the years in Medicare, which is their policy as it relates to organ transplants for seniors. Under any organ transplant in the world, the recommendation is that the recipient takes an immunosuppressant drug for the rest of their lives to make sure that the rejection of the organ does not take place, but our current policy in Medicare is that we will pay for the immunosuppressant drug for a 3-year period after the transplant. It is an amazing thing that when seniors go off of the drug, because the cost is high, that maybe in the 4th year or 5th year or 6th year they begin to reject the organ. But what is our health care policy in Medicare? We will actually pay for another transplant, but we will not pay for the immunosuppressant drug any longer than 3 years.”