📋 Medicare-Negotiated Drug Prices Lower Out-of-Pocket Costs (AARP Article)

[Winter2025VA]

FROM THE ARTICLE.

Enrollees Taking the First Medicare-Negotiated Prescription Drugs Will Have Lower Out-of-Pocket Costs in 2026.

By Leigh Purvis, AARP Public Policy Institute.
Published December 18, 2025.

➡️[*** Key Takeaways:

[1] The first 10 Medicare-negotiated drug prices will become available on January 1, 2026, and additional drugs will be selected and negotiated every year going forward.

[2] Part D plan enrollee cost-sharing for these 10 drugs will decrease by an average of approximately 50 percent among stand-alone Part D plans that were available in five states with high Medicare enrollment.

[3] Medicare drug price negotiation is currently working as anticipated and will reduce enrollees’ out-of-pocket costs in 2026, likely due to the prevalence of cost-sharing that is directly linked to drug prices.

[4] Ongoing efforts to exempt more drugs from Medicare drug price negotiation will negatively affect Part D enrollees by effectively eliminating the possibility of lower cost-sharing that could help improve enrollee access to those products.

USE LINK BELOW TO READ THE ARTICLE.

https://www.aarp.org/pri/topics/health/prescription-drugs/out-of-pocket-costs-medicare-negotiated-dr...