The amount a typical Medicare Part D prescription drug plan enrollee pays might increase about 3 percent in 2016.
The average drug plan base beneficiary premium is on track to rise 2.9 percent next year, to $34.10 per month, according to a comparison of the new 2016 cost numbers with comparable figures for 2015 published about a year ago.
Sean Cavanaugh, director of the Center for Medicare, an arm of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, gave the figures in a memo addressed to Medicare Advantage organizations and Medicare prescription drug plan sponsors.
The federal government uses tax revenue to pay part of the cost of Medicare drug coverage, and the enrollees pay the rest of the cost.
The total national average monthly bid amount, or the total amount that the plan issuers hope to get paid, is on track to fall 7.9 percent, to $64.66.
The 2016 figures include only numbers for ordinary, stand-alone Part D plans, not specialized plans, Medicare private fee-for-service plans or other unusual types of Medicare plans.
CMS officials reported in an announcement about 2016 drug plan costs that the costs have been stable even though per-capita Part D enrollee spending increased about 11 percent in 2014.
Costs rose mainly because of the high cost of specialty drugs, especially for enrollees who qualify for catastrophic drug benefits coverage, officials said.
"Total Medicare payments to plans for reinsurance have grown by more than three times the pace of premium growth," officials said.
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