Medicare Enrollees and the Part D Drug Benefit: Improving Financial Protection through the Low-Income Subsidy

On January 31, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released a report titled “Medicare Enrollees and the Part D Drug Benefit: Improving Financial Protection through the Low-Income Subsidy.” The report highlights findings from an analysis of Medicare data from 2020, including that the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) expanded financial assistance in Medicare’s Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) Program would have benefited nearly 461,000 Partial LIS enrollees had the provision been in effect in 2020. An additional 2.9 million Part D enrollees who were eligible but not enrolled in LIS would also have benefited from the program...