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A key cost-saving provision of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) goes into effect in the new year, limiting annual out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs to $2,000 for Medicare beneficiaries. Starting on Jan. 1, 2025, an estimated 19 million Medicare beneficiaries will see their out-of-pocket Medicare Part D spending capped at $2,000 for the year. This annual cap will be indexed to the rate of inflation every year going forward. An interim spending cap of roughly $3,500 was put in place in 2024. (Choi, 12/31)

Drugmakers plan to raise U.S. prices on at least 250 branded medications including Pfizer COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid, Bristol Myers Squibb's cancer cell therapies and vaccines from France's Sanofi, opens new tab at the start of 2025, according to data analyzed by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors. Nearly all of the drug price increases are below 10% - most well below. The median price increase of the drugs being hiked Jan. 1 is 4.5%, which is in line with the median for all price increases last year. (Erman, 12/31)

The new year ushered in a final slate of updates to the federal rules for how hospitals have to disclose their prices, and experts are optimistic the changes will make the data more helpful in identifying less expensive providers. (Bannow, 1/2)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: In Year 7, ‘Bill Of The Month’ Gives Patients A Voice

In 2024, our nationwide team of gumshoes set out to answer your most pressing questions about medical bills, such as: Can free preventive care really come with add-on bills for items like surgical trays? Or, why does it cost so much to treat a rattlesnake bite? Or, if it’s called an urgent care emergency center, which is it? Affording medical care continues to be among the top health concerns facing Americans today. In the seventh year of �鶹Ů�� Health News’ “Bill of the Month” series, readers shared their most perplexing, vexing, and downright expensive medical bills and asked us to help figure out what happened. (12/30)