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Ten new medications are expected to cost the government almost $50 billion in drug spending, according to a new report. The report from the consulting firm Avalere Health, commissioned by an insurance company trade group, falls into a long-running campaign by insurers against what they call exorbitant prices that they and the government must pay for drugs. (Sullivan, 6/8)

As debate intensifies over the prices for prescription medicines, a new study suggests that 10 so-called breakthrough drugs – including some that have not yet been approved by the FDA – will cost the U.S. government nearly $50 billion over the next decade. Specifically, Medicare would absorb the largest expense at $31.3 billion, followed by an estimated $15.8 billion in Medicaid spending and another $2.1 billion in spending as a result of subsidies provided through health exchange plans created under the Affordable Care Act. (Silverman, 6/8)

Health care costs are expected to rise 6.5 percent next year, the lowest anticipated rate of growth in a decade but still well above that of inflation, according to a new report. The report by PwC’s Health Research Institute sees the higher spending pushed by the spiraling cost of specialty drugs, including breakthrough treatments for hepatitis C and efforts to counter the increasing prevalence of cyberattacks aimed at health care companies. (Demko, 6/9)