AXIOS (Adriel Bettelheim) - Medicare drug coverage faces an ominous spending outlook
There are troubling new signs that the overhaul of Medicare drug coverage in the Inflation Reduction Act is dramatically driving up program spending. Why it matters: The upward trajectory could threaten some seniors' coverage for outpatient prescription drugs — and it could force painful tradeoffs over the next decade as Medicare consumes a growing share of the nation's debt. Follow the money: The IRA limited what seniors have to pay for outpatient drugs and shifted the remaining cost to taxpayers, insurers who provide stand-alone Medicare drug plans and drug manufacturers. - That was good news for enrollees who take expensive drugs for conditions like cancer, multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis and faced potentially crushing…