Starting next month, some Medicare beneficiaries will pay less out of pocket for 27 prescription drugs whose prices rose faster than inflation late last year, the Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday.
The announcement comes as President Joe Biden once again highlights his efforts to lower Americans’ everyday costs amid higher-than-desired inflation.
Seniors could see their cost sharing drop by between $2 and $390 per average dose for the medications, which are used by patients with several types of cancer, fungal infections, acne, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic kidney disease and urinary tract infections, among other conditions. The drugs, which are covered by Medicare Part B, are administered by doctors.
The list of drugs eligible for rebates would be updated quarterly, said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.
Just how much Medicare beneficiaries will save depends on a variety of factors, including whether they have supplemental coverage and what their treatment protocol is. Seniors typically pay 20% of the Medicare-approved cost of the drug as co-insurance.
The cost savings stem from a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act, which congressional Democrats passed last August. It requires drug companies pay a rebate to Medicare if they raise their prices faster than inflation.
The measure also serves as a “strong incentive” to dissuade drug makers from hiking prices, said Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In 2021, the prices of some 1,200 prescription drugs increased faster than inflation, according to a recent HHS report.
“It’s sort of, I would say, a two-fold benefit – one, that if drug companies do exceed inflation, they will be paying rebates to the federal government,” she said Tuesday. “But even as important, I would say, is the incentive for…
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