What are the Implications of New Anti-Obesity Drugs for Racial Disparities?
This policy watch discusses some of the potential implications of the new anti-obesity drugs for racial equity.
View the Latest: Prescription Drugs
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Key Facts About Medicare Part D Enrollment and Costs in 2023
Issue BriefThe Medicare Part D program provides an outpatient prescription drug benefit to older adults and people with long-term disabilities in Medicare who enroll in private plans. This brief analyzes Medicare Part D enrollment and costs in 2023 and trends over time. The analysis highlights the substantial growth of Medicare Advantage drug plans in the marketplace for Part D drug coverage, where enrollment overall is concentrated in a handful of large plan sponsors.
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Medicaid Coverage of and Spending on GLP-1s
Issue BriefThis brief discusses the current landscape of Medicaid GLP-1 coverage and examines recent trends in Medicaid prescriptions and gross spending on GLP-1s.
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As Pandemic-Era Policies End, Medicaid Programs Focus on Enrollee Access and Reducing Health Disparities Amid Future Uncertainties
ReportThis report highlights certain policies in place in state Medicaid programs in FY 2024 and policy changes implemented or planned for FY 2025, which began on July 1, 2024 for most states.
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Copay Adjustment Programs: What Are They and What Do They Mean for Consumers?
Issue BriefDrug makers sometimes offer copay coupons to lower consumers’ out-of-pocket costs for their brand-name prescriptions, though how private health plans treat those coupons can substantially limit their value to consumers. This issue brief provides an overview of such copay adjustment programs, stakeholder arguments for and against their use, their prevalence, and federal and state efforts to address them.
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Recent Trends in Medicaid Outpatient Prescription Drugs and Spending
Issue BriefThis issue brief describes recent trends in the number of Medicaid outpatient prescriptions and the spending on those drugs and examines how the pandemic and pandemic-era policies may have impacted those trends.
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A Current Snapshot of the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Benefit
Issue BriefThis brief provides an overview of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, including current data on plan availability, enrollment, and spending and financing, and highlights changes made under the Inflation Reduction Act.
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Medicare Part D Premiums Are Increasing for Many But Not All Stand-Alone Plans in 2025, Reflecting Effects of New Premium Stabilization Demonstration
Policy WatchThis policy watch examines monthly premiums for Medicare Part D stand-alone drug plans in 2025, as changes to the Part D benefit are being implemented in 2025, including a new $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket drug spending.
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A Look at Changes in Opioid Prescribing Patterns in Medicaid from 2016 to 2019
Issue BriefThis analysis builds on previous KFF work by using Medicaid claims data for 2016-2019 to explore how prescriptions for opioids used to treat pain and those used to treat OUD or rapidly reverse overdose changed across states and Medicaid enrollee demographic groups over time.
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Prices Increased Faster Than Inflation for Half of all Drugs Covered by Medicare in 2020
Issue BriefRecent legislation would require drug companies to pay rebates to the federal government when annual increases in prescription drug prices for Medicare and private insurance exceed the rate of inflation. As context for understanding the possible impact of this proposal, this analysis compares price changes for drugs covered by Medicare Part B (administered by physicians) and Part D (retail prescription drugs) between 2019 and 2020 to the inflation rate over the same period.