According to a Medicare startup firm, some people pay thousands of dollars more for prescription drugs than other people do depending on where they live.
According to the company Chapter, Medicare prescription costs differ significantly from one state to the next and even even from one ZIP Code to another. Thus, an elderly citizen’s geographic location can end up costing them thousands of dollars a year in medical expenses.
Chapter examined how the price of insulin, as for example, varies depending on geography using proprietary pricing data on all active Medicare plans.
According to the business, depending on region, a person might spend between $1,113 and $10,689 for insulin over the course of four months.
According to USA Today, the company’s analysis came before the government statute that will cap insulin copays for Medicare Part D enrollees at $35 per month starting in 2019. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a new bill, also caps the cost of all prescription medications for seniors with Medicare Part D at $2,000 per year.
However, according to Chapter CEO and co-founder Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz, all medications currently have pricing disparities similar to the one in the insulin case.
In this particular data research, he said, “we discovered that some folks are paying thousands of dollars more annually for their medications.”
At $1,113 for four months, Kansas had the lowest average cost among the states for Medicare plans that completely cover insulin. Connecticut had the highest cost for a plan without insulin coverage, at $10,689 per year.
The “Medicare Plan Finder” on Medicare.gov can help people learn more. It is cost-free and enables users to look up prices for various plans by searching for medications, dosages, and ZIP Codes.
All medications may be priced differently in various locations and under various insurance plans, and their prices may fluctuate annually.
