Over the summer, the boffins at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the latest projections for U.S. spending on healthcare. (See links below.) These data provide the latest official and apolitical look at the future of U.S. healthcare spending.
The top line projections highlight the government’s official view that prescription drugs dispensed by retail and mail pharmacies will have a modest impact on U.S. healthcare costs.
However, there are some notable changes from the previous forecast. CMS now expects that the Inflation Reduction Act’s changes to the Medicare Part D program will have a greater impact than previously projected, while private insurers will find drug costs creeping higher.
Below, we outline the four major takeaways from the latest projections, which continue to show that taxpayers—primarily via Medicare and Medicaid—will continue to dominate the employer-sponsored insurance market. And like it or not, vertically integrated insurers, PBMs, specialty pharmacies, and providers will continue to prosper.
Read more »
