Prescription Drugs

In his latest column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman describes how Vice President Harris has reframed health as a pocketbook economic issue, which aligns with voters’ concern about health care costs.

This brief examines the share of Medicare beneficiaries who reviewed their coverage and compared plans during the open enrollment period for 2022 (that takes place in the Fall of 2021), and who made use of Medicare’s official information resources, as well as variations by demographic groups. Overall, nearly 7 in 10 Medicare beneficiaries did not compare their own source of Medicare coverage with other Medicare options offered in their area.

This 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.

In a new Trump administration executive order, the Secretary of HHS is directed to work with Congress to implement a change in law to delay negotiation of so-called “small molecule” drugs under the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program for an additional 4 years. This brief analyzes how many of the drugs previously selected for negotiation would not have been eligible if this policy had been in place at the time.

This brief describes Medicare coverage of sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception, and compares that coverage with private insurance plans and Medicaid. These benefits are particularly relevant to nearly 1 million women of reproductive age (20-49) who are eligible for Medicare due to having a long-term disability.

Oral contraceptives are the most commonly used method of reversible contraception in the U.S. In July 2023, the FDA approved Opill, the first daily oral contraceptive pill to become available over the counter (OTC) without a doctor’s prescription. This issue brief provides an overview of OTC oral contraceptives and laws and policies related to insurance coverage.

As Opill—the first over-the-counter daily oral contraceptive pill in the United States—is expected to be available for purchase in early 2024, new research conducted by KFF examines barriers to its accessibility for consumers and challenges in providing insurance coverage for it. Based on interviews with nearly 80 representatives from private…

Nearly a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, this poll examines the public’s views of abortion and the Supreme Court, and knowledge about mifepristone, a medication abortion drug that is the subject of another court case, the ACA’s preventive services provision and HIV in the US.

This Medicare Part D data spotlight examines three common techniques used by Medicare stand-alone prescription drug plans in 2008 to manage enrollees’ use of formulary drugs, such as quantity limits, prior authorization, and step therapy rules. This is one in a series analyzing key aspects of the 2008 Medicare Part…

This report is a case study of five states’ (California, Georgia, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Washington) implementation of prior authorization in their Medicaid programs.