By mid-2024, Medicare participants with Part D prescription drug plans had already saved nearly $1 billion in prescription drug costs as a result of a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act that capped Part D enrollees’ annual drug spending.
For 2024 that limit is $3500 a year, and by the end of June nearly 1.5 million people had hit that limit and faced no more prescription drug costs for the rest of the year. 500,000 people hit that limit before mid-year and were already saving money – just shy of $1 billion over the same period of time. Nine of the top ten drugs for which patients saved money were for treating cancer.
For 2025 the limit will fall to $2000, so the anticipated savings will be even greater. This year, 4.6 million Part D enrollees hit that level by the end of June.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) is producing an “Inflation Reduction Act Research Series” and these are among the highlights in “Medicare Part D Enrollees Reaching the Out-of-Pocket Limit by June 2024,” the latest issue brief in that series. Find it here.