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Medicare
Outpatient Prescription Drug spending jumped
$38 Billion between 2005 and 2006
Newswise — Medicare payments for outpatient prescription
medications increased by more than $38
billion when comparing 2005 and 2006 data,
according to the latest News and Numbers
from the Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality.
Medicare offered prescription drug coverage to all Medicare
beneficiaries beginning in January 2006 with
the implementation of Medicare Prescription
Drug Coverage or Medicare Part D.
Prior to January 2006, Medicare prescription drug coverage
was limited to certain beneficiaries, such
as people with who required dialysis or a
transplant due to severe kidney disease.
AHRQ’s analysis of outpatient prescription drug spending
found that between 2005 and 2006:
• Medicare spending for outpatient prescription drugs rose
from $5.9 billion to $44.3 billion.
• Medicare’s share of the Medicare
population’s overall drug spending increased
from about 7 percent to 45 percent.
• In contrast, Medicaid’s share of the
Medicare population’s drug spending
decreased from 15.5 percent to about 1
percent, and private insurance’s share fell
from approximately 25 percent to 16.5
percent.
• The proportion of Medicare beneficiaries
that had one or more payments by Medicare
for one or more prescription drug purchases
rose from about 21 percent to nearly 69
percent.
AHRQ, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, improves the quality,
safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of
health care for all Americans.
The data in this AHRQ News and Numbers summary are taken
from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS),
a detailed source of information on the
health services used by Americans, the
frequency with which they are used, the cost
of those services, and how they are paid.
For more information,
go to Prescription Drug Estimates for
Medicare Beneficiaries, 2005 and 2006
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