Many Cancer Patients on Medicare Skip Filling High-Priced Prescriptions: Study – By Yuval Rosenberg (The Fiscal Times) / April 19, 2022
High drug prices often lead Americans on Medicare to hold off on filling their prescriptions, even for threatening diseases such as cancer, a study in the journal Health Affairs suggests.
The analysis found that a large percentage of beneficiaries in Medicare’s prescription drug program do not fill their prescriptions for high-priced drugs, but low-income beneficiaries who receive government subsidies were nearly twice as likely as those who don’t get financial help to get their prescribed drugs within 90 days.
Looking at Medicare beneficiaries who do not receive subsidies, the study found that about 30% who had a new prescription for a cancer drug did not fill that prescription within 90 days. The cancer drugs could cost $3,000 for a first fill and then $600 to $1,000 for every refill, far higher than the out-of-pocket cost for patients with subsidies
