,,Medicaid Prescription Drug Use by Dual Eligibles: Issues for Medicare Part D. Trends in Health Care Financing, Issue Brief #8

Medicaid Prescription Drug Use by Dual Eligibles: Issues for Medicare Part D. Trends in Health Care Financing, Issue Brief #8


 

Publication Date: August 2008

Publisher: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

Author(s): James Verdier; Ann Bagchi; Dominick Esposito

Research Area: Health

Keywords: Medicare Part D; Dual Eligibles; Medicaid; Prescription Drug

Type: Brief

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

New data, prepared for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, provide detailed state-by-state and national information on prescription drug cost and utilization in 2003 for Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled in both Medicaid and Medicare ("dual eligibles"), whose drug coverage shifted from Medicaid to Medicare Part D in 2006.

This brief highlights key data on drug use and spending in 2003 for dual eligibles, as well as Part D issues that these data can help to inform. Sixty-five percent of the 6.7 million dual eligibles who received drug coverage from Medicaid in 2003 were age 65 or older; the rest were under 65 and disabled. Among dual eligibles as a whole, the most costly drug group was antipsychotics, accounting for over $2.3 billion in expenditures in 2003. Ulcer drugs were the next most costly group ($1.38 billion), followed by antidepressants ($1.18 billion).