New Medicare Out-of-Pocket Drug Cost Cap Will Benefit Millions in 2025

Millions of Medicare Part D beneficiaries will save money after the introduction of a $2,000 out-of-pocket (OOP) spending cap for prescription drugs, a provision that is included in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and takes effect next year, according to a recent KFF analysis.

Based on KFF’s review of drug claims data for Part D enrollees who do not qualify for the low-income subsidy (LIS), the analysis projected that, if the $2,000 cap had been in place in 2021, 1.5 million Medicare Part D beneficiaries — who spent $2,000 or more OOP on prescription drugs — would have saved money. Over the 10-year period between 2012 and 2021, a total of 5 million enrollees had OOP drug costs of $2,000 or more in at least one year.

© 2025 MMIT
Jinghong Chen

Jinghong Chen Reporter

Jinghong has been producing infographics and data stories on employer-sponsored insurance, public health insurance programs and prescription drug coverage for AIS Health’s Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits since 2018. She also manages AIS Health’s annual executive compensation database for top insurers and Blue Cross and Blue Shield affiliates. Before joining AIS Health, she interned at WBEZ, Al Jazeera English and The New York Times Chinese. She graduated from Missouri School of Journalism with a focus on data journalism and international reporting.

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