Medicare

Our slideshow explains the prescription drug provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. They include requiring the HHS Secretary to negotiate prices for some top-selling drugs covered in Medicare, requiring drug companies to pay rebates if prices rise faster than inflation for drugs used by Medicare beneficiaries and capping out-of-pocket drug spending in Medicare Part D. 

Related: How Would the Prescription Drug Provisions in the Senate Reconciliation Proposal Affect Medicare Beneficiaries?

Skilled nursing facility spending for traditional Medicare beneficiaries with both Part A and Part B rose 4.4 percent in 2020 – even as the number of beneficiaries using such services declined, and at a time when spending on most other services fell.

The increase is explained by longer and more expensive SNF stays in 2020 compared to 2019, both of which increased more sharply for Medicare beneficiaries under 65 than for older Medicare SNF users. Overall, spending per day rose from $490 in 2019 to $534 in 2020, or 9.1 percent.

Rates of cost-related problems are higher among beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage than in traditional Medicare with supplemental coverage, but highest among beneficiaries in traditional Medicare without supplemental coverage. Among Black beneficiaries specifically, a larger share of those in Medicare Advantage reported cost-related problems than those in traditional Medicare (32% vs. 24%). The rate of cost-related problems was lower still among the subset of Black beneficiaries in traditional Medicare who had Medicaid or other sources of supplemental insurance (20%).