Spiraling drug costs prompt call for major Medicare changes

WASHINGTON (AP) — Calling the rising cost of drugs "unsustainable," congressional advisers today recommended major changes to Medicare's popular outpatient-prescription program, now 10 years old.

The proposal from the nonpartisan Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, steers clear of calling for the government to negotiate drug prices directly, an option both presidential candidates advocate. For beneficiaries, the plan is a mixed bag. All seniors would get better protection from extremely high costs, but some may have to spend more.

The recommendations are unlikely to gain traction in Congress during an election year, but they will get a serious look from staff experts on key House and Senate committees overseeing Medicare.

MedPAC is a congressional agency charged with making regular recommendations on Medicare, the government's premier health insurance program, with about 57 million elderly and disabled beneficiaries. Echoing widespread concerns about drug costs, MedPAC said spending for Medicare's prescription program grew by nearly 60 percent from 2007 through 2014, from $46 billion to $73 billion.

That was driven by spending on high-cost beneficiaries who tend to use the most expensive medications, such as the recent breakthrough cures for hepatitis C infection. Congress should re-examine the program's design "to better ensure financial sustainability," the commission said.

The MedPAC proposal would protect all seniors by setting an annual limit on how much they can be required to pay for medications, a new safeguard.

However, it would also raise costs by about $1,000 for some beneficiaries who land in the widely loathed coverage gap known as the "doughnut hole."