Medicare Part D Co-Insurance as Percentage?

Kaiser Health News ran a story on March 18, 2016 about co-insurance trends in drug coverages. Coinsurance Trend Means Seniors Likely To Face Higher Out-Of-Pocket Drug Costs, Report Says explains that a new report shows that “Medicare beneficiaries may get dinged with higher prescription drug bills this year because more than half of covered drugs in standalone plans require them to pay a percentage of the cost rather than a flat fee….” This report notes that over half of the Part D covered drugs have a coinsurance payment rather than a fixed copayment. This means greater out of pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries.  As a result, predicting a beneficiary’s out of pocket costs is more difficult.

The report, Majority of Drugs Now Subject to Coinsurance in Medicare Part D Plans is available here.  A pdf of the report is available here.