Medicare Part D, Prescription Drug Spending, and Total Medical Spending

Medicare Part D, which provides a drug benefit to enrollees, was enacted in January 2006. The financial impact of Part D is unclear and has implications for future health-reform efforts. These investigators identified 35,102 Medicare participants in Pennsylvania Medicare Advantage plans who, before implementation of Part D, had one of the following types of coverage: (1) stable, uncapped drug coverage (no cap); (2) no drug coverage; (3) a quarterly drug cap of $150 on payments by the plan; or (4) a quarterly drug cap of $350 on payments by the plan. Using propensity-score weighting and time-series analysis, the authors examined the effect of Part D on patients’ spending on prescription drugs and on non-drug medical care.

During the 2 years a…