

As the threshold increases, fewer beneficiaries would accrue savings, but savings would increase. Annual mean (SD) savings would be $1301 ($1849) for PDP beneficiaries and $1363 ($1888) for MA-PD plan beneficiaries, concentrated among beneficiaries taking specialty drugs. Results: Under the $2000 OOP proposed threshold, only 7% of PDP and 4% of MA-PD plan beneficiaries would have spending high enough to reach the OOP maximum. We then simulated a potential behavioral response by beneficiaries. Methods: Using Part D 2017 claims data for beneficiaries in stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDPs) and Medicare Advantage prescription drug (MA-PD) plans, we estimated the number of beneficiaries affected, their demographic characteristics, and their drug utilization patterns. Study Design: We estimated multivariate linear regression models to determine which beneficiary characteristics were associated with the greatest savings under each proposed OOP maximum and simulated a potential behavioral response by beneficiaries. However, little is known about how beneficiaries would be affected. Objectives: Three different out-of-pocket (OOP) maximums in Medicare Part D have been proposed: $2000 by the House of Representatives, $3100 by the Senate Finance Committee, and the beginning of catastrophic coverage by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.
