Prescription Drugs

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is helping people with Medicare, including nearly 30 million women enrolled in Part D. Our review shows that, in 2020, about 733,000 women enrolled in Part D and B would have benefited from the IRA’s $35 insulin cap and, in 2021, about 2 million women would not have had any out-of-pocket costs for recommended adult vaccines covered by Part D.

In 2022, 43.3 million Medicare Part D enrollees (82 percent) filled 1.1 billion prescriptions for generic prescription drugs. While most enrollees filled at least one prescription for $2 or less, most (54 percent) paid more than $2 for at least one generic drug. Over 6 million enrollees filled at least one prescription for over $20.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is helping people with Medicare, including over 8 million Part D enrollees who reside in rural areas. This fact sheet outlines the potential impacts of the IRA’s key drug-related provisions for rural Medicare enrollees.

ASPE contracted with RAND Health Care to carry out three studies analyzing data on U.S. prescription drug prices and availability in comparison to drug prices and availability in other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. In 2022, U.S. prices across all drugs (brands and generics) were nearly 2.78 times as high as prices in the comparison countries. U.S.

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.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) includes provisions to increase accessibility and affordability of prescription drugs for the 65 million Medicare beneficiaries, reduce the rate of growth in Medicare drug spending, and improve the financial sustainability of the Medicare program. These IRA provisions include a rebate on certain Part B and D drug prices if prices rise faster than inflation.

The cornerstone of a well-functioning market is competition. President Biden’s Executive Order 14036, “Promoting Competition in the American Economy” identified a lack of competition as a key driver for problems across economic sectors.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is helping people with Medicare afford their medications, including the 2.1 million Asian, 5.8 million Black, and 5.3 million Latino Part D enrollees. These fact sheets review existing research to present the projected impacts of key IRA Medicare drug-related provisions for these populations.

Development of novel antimicrobials has slowed, and the preclinical and clinical pipeline is likely to be insufficient to support current and future patient needs.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) authorizes the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to negotiate prices directly with participating manufacturers for selected drugs that are high expenditure, single source drugs without generic or biosimilar competition.