Govt. Drug Subsidies Grow As More Seniors Hit Part D Catastrophic

The rapid climb of subsidies that the government pays for expensive drugs after seniors hit the catastrophic phase of Medicare Part D was one of the main drivers of faster growth in personal health care spending in 2019, according to the National Health Expenditures report released by CMS this month. Retail drug spending increased 5.7% in 2019 compared to the previous year’s growth rate of 3.8 percent. Part D was the main driver of that growth in 2019, the report...