Policy & Regulation

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will make key changes to improve drug affordability for people who have Medicare.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released new research on spending and utilization trends of Medicare Part B drugs, drugs administered in physicians' office or hospital outpatient departments rather than being purchased at the pharmacy counter or by mail order.

Enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans has increased rapidly in recent years. The share of eligible Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in MA rose from 25% in 2010 to 47% in 2021 (27.6 million enrollees). Payments to MA plans more than doubled between 2015 and 2021 (from $175 to $361 billion), taking the share of total Medicare Parts A & B spending on MA from 38% to 54%.

Prescription drug shortages are an ongoing concern in the United States (U.S.). While prior analyses explore the frequency of drug shortages in the U.S., little is known about the extent to which U.S. shortages impact consumer costs and healthcare systems. Drug shortages impact consumer costs in various ways.

Understanding Coverage Considerations for COVID-19 Vaccines and Treatments (Updated May 2023)

This report provides welfare dependence indicators through 2019 for most indicators and through 2020 for other indicators, reflecting changes that have taken place since enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996.

Telehealth utilization has changed over time since the steep increase from the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. This report updates prior findings on national trends of telehealth use through an analysis using the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey data from April 2021 through August 2022.

Many Medicaid enrollees are employed, and in 2021, 15 percent of working enrollees reported having both Medicaid and employer sponsored health coverage. The intersection between Medicaid and employment has implications for employers and others as the pandemic-related Medicaid continuous enrollment ends.

ASPE has developed national and state estimates of the number of U.S. residents enrolled in Medicaid, along with data on employment, income, and demographic characteristics of those who are currently working, using the most recent Census data available from the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS).

This issue brief provides a primer on FDA user fees, presents findings of how user fees affect the cost of medical product development, and summarizes the research literature on user fees, most notably in expediting medical product development and approval.