More Drug Spending After Medicare Part D

People who signed up for drug coverage under Medicare Part D increased their drug spending afterward, a study has found. But most of them also decreased their spending on other medical care. The study looked at 35,000 people on Medicare in Pennsylvania. It compared their drug spending 2 years before and 2 years after the Part D drug benefit took effect in 2006. The level of spending change depended on what kind of drug benefits they had before Part D, the study found. People with no prior drug plan increased their spending on drugs the most — about $41 a month. The study appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. HealthDay News wrote about it July 1.