Issue Brief – “A Small Number of Drugs Account for a Large Share of Medicare Part D Spending”

On July 12, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released an issue brief describing high-cost drugs which accounted for a disproportionate share of Medicare spending. As required under the Inflation Reduction Act, the federal government will announce 10 Medicare Part D prescription drugs by September 1, 2023, selected for price negotiations in 2026. To provide an understanding of the potential impact of negotiating prices, KFF’s analysis found that Medicare Part D spending was concentrated among a small number of prescription drugs, and ten top-selling Medicare-covered prescription drugs in 2021 accounted for 22 percent or nearly one-fourth of gross Part D spending....