US Drug Pricing Reform May Help Medicare Part D Beneficiaries with High Cancer Costs
September 27, 2022
Many US cancer patients enrolled in Medicare Part D programs forgo life-saving cancer care due to exorbitant treatment costs, which average out to $3,000 out-of-pocket for the first month’s prescription. According to a White House blog posted last Friday, April 23rd, new provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act’s drug pricing reform would help reduce costs for Part D patients and the healthcare system at large.
According to Stacie Dusetzina, associate professor at Vanderbilt University, “An out-of-pocket cap on Medicare Part D could mean that many more people are able to fill their cancer treatments. We found that many Medicare beneficiaries – 30% of those who do not have low-income subsidies – were not filling their cancer treatments at all. In other work, we, and other authors, have seen that having higher out-of-pocket costs also reduces medication adherence, even among people who start treatment..”
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(Source: Endpoints, September 26th, 2022)