Hello! You're looking at a policy document report on Overton
We track government policy, guidelines, think tank research, working papers and more to help our customers see the impact and influence of their work. Are you interested in seeing what information we have to offer? Request a free trial to our platform.
If you fund, produce or manage research or work to influence policy, we'd love to talk. Learn more on our homepage.
Medicare: High-Expenditure Part B Drugs
U.S. Government Accountability Office on
November 13th 2012
In 2010, the 55 highest-expenditure Part B drugs represented $16.9 billion in spending, or about 85 percent of all Medicare spending on Part B drugs, which totaled $19.5 billion. The number of Medicare beneficiaries who received each of these drugs varied from 15.2 million receiving the influenza vaccines to 660 hemophilia A patients receiving a group of biologicals known collectively as factor viii recombinant, which had the largest average annual cost per beneficiary--$217,000. Our analysis showed that most of the 55 drugs increased in expenditures, prices, and average annual cost per beneficiary from 2008 to 2010. The 5 drugs with the largest increase in Medicare expenditures over this time period also had the largest increase in the number of beneficiaries receiving each drug. Four of the 10 drugs which showed the greatest increase in expenditures were also among the 10 drugs showing the greatest price increases.Spending on Medicare beneficiaries accounted for the majority of estimated total U.S. spending
Topics in this document
Myelodysplastic syndrome
Kidney disease
Immunodeficiency
Generic drug
Chronic kidney disease
Chronic condition
Medication
Biosimilar
Bevacizumab
Epoetin alfa
Medicare (United States)
Medical treatments
Health care
Pharmacology
Medical specialties
Health
Clinical medicine
Medicine
Health sciences
Diseases and disorders
Drugs
Government Accountability Office
Cancer
Orphan drug
Treatment of cancer
Macular degeneration
Chemotherapy
Medicare Part D
Rituximab
Food and Drug Administration
Related SDGs
Citations
Cited by 4 other policy documents
(2 of them are from other policy sources)