Tara
O'Neill Hayes
May 11, 2018
Executive Summary
The Affordable Care Act temporarily slowed the
growth rate of the catastrophic coverage threshold for Medicare Part D,
allowing more people to enter the catastrophic coverage phase where the federal
government covers most of the costs. This temporary reduction will end in 2020
and the threshold will again reflect the true growth in beneficiary
expenditures. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA) made further changes to
Part D. These changes will affect different stakeholders in different ways, but
the primary effect has been to increase overall expenditures in catastrophic
coverage.
- The
federal government, which pays 80 percent of the costs in the catastrophic
phase, has faced substantial cost increases because of the lower
threshold, and raising it should slow the rate at which those costs
increases.
- Beneficiaries
with the highest costs have benefitted from the lower threshold, as
entering the catastrophic phase more quickly lowers their out-of-pocket
(OOP) costs. But those who have not entered catastrophic coverage have
seen their premiums rise without any savings in OOP expenditures.
- The
lower threshold has saved drug manufacturers money, and raising it will
cost them more. The higher threshold in combination with the increase in
the coverage gap manufacturer rebates mandated by the BBA will increase
their costs even further.
- The
impact to insurers has been less straightforward and continues to evolve
as their liability for costs in the coverage gap has continually been
changing since 2010 and will continue to do so through 2019. Most of the
savings insurers have gained in the coverage gap thus far have been offset
by increased expenditures in catastrophic coverage.
Introduction
The Medicare Part D prescription drug program provides
Medicare beneficiaries with robust insurance coverage for outpatient
prescription drugs. All Part D plans are offered by private insurance companies
that negotiate with drug manufacturers to provide patients with access to
discounted prices. The federal government subsidizes these plans heavily and
regulates them regarding coverage and affordability.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) temporarily slowed
the growth rate of the catastrophic coverage threshold within the Part D
program, yet this change is set to expire in 2020. The catastrophic coverage
threshold is the point at which the government begins to pay most of the cost
of medication, with the intent of preventing those costs from overwhelming
beneficiaries or insurers.
This paper examines the financial impact this
change has had on the various stakeholders over the past few years and what
effect its expiration will have in 2020. It analyzes these shifts particularly
in light of recent provisions in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA) which
have further changed the Part D program.
Background
Part D prescription drug plans have four phases
of insurance coverage:
- The
deductible, where the beneficiary must cover all costs until the
deductible is reached;
- The
initial coverage phase, where beneficiaries pay 25 percent of the cost of
their drugs and insurers pay the other 75 percent, until total
expenditures reach the initial coverage limit;
- The
“coverage gap,” so named for the structure of this phase prior to the ACA
when the beneficiary resumed full responsibility for the cost of their
drugs until reaching the catastrophic coverage threshold (the ACA and the
BBA have significantly altered coverage in this phase, as explained below);
and
- The
catastrophic or reinsurance phase, where beneficiaries pay 5 percent of
all remaining costs until the end of the plan year, insurers pay 15
percent, and the government pays 80 percent.
The ACA included a provision to close the
coverage gap gradually in several steps. First, the federal government provided
all beneficiaries who entered the coverage gap in 2010 a $250 rebate, paid from
the Medicare Prescription Drug Account.[1] Next,
beginning in 2011 drug manufacturers were required to pay a rebate of 50
percent of the negotiated price for all brand-name drugs that a beneficiary
took while in the coverage gap phase of her insurance. The beneficiary covered
the remaining 50 percent of the cost. Then, starting in 2013, insurers began
paying some of the costs formerly covered by beneficiaries. Insurers’ liability
gradually increased each year, starting at 2.5 percent in 2013 until reaching
(under the ACA’s plan) 25 percent in 2020. As the insurer liability increased,
the patient liability decreased by the same amount. Thus, by 2020 (under the
ACA) the patient would pay 25 percent, insurers 25 percent, and drug
manufacturers 50 percent. At the same time, the ACA set up a parallel track for
covering generics that gradually increased insurer liability for those
medications to 75 percent by 2020, with patients covering the remaining 25
percent by then.
The ACA also required
that the 50 percent manufacturer discount be included in the calculation of a
patient’s out-of-pocket (OOP) costs, an inclusion that created the “True” OOP
threshold (TrOOP). This calculation is used to determine when the patient moves
into the catastrophic coverage phase. Including the manufacturer rebates in the
TrOOP allows the beneficiary to reach catastrophic coverage more quickly, where
their cost-sharing is reduced to 5 percent.
The BBA altered this
process for closing the coverage gap. A primary change was that the BBA
accelerated the process by one year, such that beneficiaries would pay 25
percent coinsurance in the coverage gap beginning in 2019, rather than 2020.
Further, the BBA extended the mandatory manufacturer rebates to makers of
biosimilars and increased the rebate amount from 50 percent to 70 percent. The
additional rebate will be used to reduce the insurer’s liability for brand-name
drugs and biosimilars in the coverage gap to only 5 percent. The BBA did not
make any changes to the coverage of generic medicines.
The
Part D “Cliff”
The statute establishing
the Part D benefit design provides that the threshold of each coverage phase
should grow at the rate of overall beneficiary spending. The ACA, in addition
to making the changes to the coverage gap outlined above, included a provision
that temporarily slowed the growth rate of just the catastrophic coverage
threshold for the years 2014-2019.[2] In 2014, the new formula produced no
change from what the threshold would have been before the ACA, and in 2015 the
threshold was only $50 less than what it otherwise would have been. But in 2016
the threshold was $450 lower and by 2019 it will be nearly $1,000 lower, as
shown in the chart below. This temporarily slowed growth rate has effectively
shortened the coverage gap and, as a result, increased the number of
beneficiaries who reach catastrophic coverage. In 2020, the threshold will
return sharply to where it would have been had this temporary change never been
included in the ACA. As a result, the catastrophic coverage threshold is
scheduled to increase from $5,100 in 2019 to $6,650 in 2020—a 30 percent
increase.
Analyzing the Impact on the Various Stakeholders
Some stakeholders have benefitted from this
temporary change while others have not, and conversely, its expiration will
benefit some and not others. The forthcoming impacts are different now than
they otherwise would have been given the aforementioned provisions included in
the BBA. The BBA’s changes to the coverage gap provisions will result in
high-cost beneficiaries moving through the coverage gap and into the
catastrophic coverage phase more quickly, as explained here. The financial impact to each stakeholder then
depends on that stakeholder’s share of the liability for a beneficiary’s costs
in the coverage gap relative to the catastrophic coverage phase. Unfortunately
for policymakers who may be considering potential legislative responses, these
competing interests include those of beneficiaries and taxpayers: what reduces
costs for some beneficiaries increases costs for the federal government (i.e.
taxpayers), as explained below.
Methodology
Because the subject of this paper is the effect
of changes to the catastrophic coverage threshold, the estimates in this
analysis are based on expenditures for those enrollees who reach the
catastrophic coverage phase. Specifically, the figures in this analysis are
based on 2015 average per-capita expenditures (the most recent publicly
available) for non-LIS high-cost enrollees.[3] To estimate
expenditures beyond 2015, a steady annual growth rate in per capita
expenditures of 10.4 percent, equal to the annual growth rate in expenditures
for non-LIS high-cost enrollees from 2010 to 2015, was assumed.[4] Expenditures in
the coverage gap were calculated based on each stakeholders’ share of costs in
each year, assuming the same ratio of brand-name to generic expenditures
included in the CMS Part D Call Letter each year (a 9:1 ratio is assumed in
2020).[5] The expenditure
threshold for each phase of coverage in 2019 and 2020 are as projected in
the most recent Medicare Trustees Report.[6] Expenditures in
catastrophic coverage were calculated based on each stakeholders’ liability for
those costs.
Impact on Beneficiaries
High-cost enrollees are those beneficiaries who
incur prescription drug costs high enough to reach the catastrophic phase of
coverage. The number of high-cost enrollees has been growing rapidly, at an
average annual rate of 9 percent between 2010-2015 and reaching 3.6 million in
2015.[7] While nearly
three-fourths of high-cost enrollees were individuals eligible for the
low-income subsidy (LIS)—which greatly limits these individuals’ OOP costs
throughout each phase of coverage—growth in the number of non-LIS enrollees has
averaged 21 percent annually.[8] If that trend has
held steady, by 2020 an estimated 1.68 million non-LIS beneficiaries would be
expected to reach catastrophic coverage. What’s more, with the BBA’s increased
manufacturer rebates accelerating how quickly beneficiaries reach their TrOOP limit,
this number would be expected to increase even further. Nevertheless, the
looming increase in the catastrophic coverage threshold is so large that it
will likely reduce the number of beneficiaries who reach catastrophic coverage,
relative to the current projection.
Because each beneficiary pays 25 percent
coinsurance in the coverage gap compared with five percent in the catastrophic
coverage phase, beneficiaries have certainly benefitted from this temporary
reduction in the catastrophic coverage threshold. From 2016 to 2018, non-LIS
high-cost beneficiaries have saved $1,594 in the coverage gap and spent an
extra $144, on average, in catastrophic coverage, for a net estimated savings
from the reduced threshold over this period of $1,450, relative to what they
otherwise would have paid. The BBA’s changes starting next year that increase
beneficiaries’ calculated TrOOP—which will similarly push them through the
coverage gap more quickly—will result in additional savings for the
highest-cost enrollees.
With the temporary reduction in the catastrophic
coverage threshold expiring in 2020, however, those savings will be short-lived
for many of these beneficiaries, as they will suddenly be less likely
to move into catastrophic coverage. An elevated threshold that would cause a
beneficiary to stay in the coverage gap longer, paying a coinsurance rate that
is five times what they would pay beyond the coverage gap, will undoubtedly
increase beneficiaries’ OOP costs. If the catastrophic coverage threshold
increases as scheduled in 2020, from $5,100 in 2019 to $6,650, beneficiaries
that do reach that threshold will pay an extra $461 in the coverage gap, and
$71 more in the catastrophic phase (well below their typical cost growth in the
catastrophic phase). This one-year OOP cost increase will be more than the
total estimated increase in annual OOP expenditures for non-LIS high-cost
enrollees between 2015 and 2018. However, because these individuals are
expected to pay nearly $300 less in 2019 than what they will pay OOP in 2018
(because of the BBA’s changes to the coverage gap), their OOP expenditures in
2020 should only be about $400 more than their 2018 expenditures.
The ACA’s changes have indirectly affected costs
for the two-thirds of non-high-cost beneficiaries, as well. The federal
government subsidizes the Part D program primarily through direct premium
subsidies and by providing reinsurance in the catastrophic coverage phase. By
law, the government must subsidize three-fourths of total program expenditures.
As the government’s reinsurance costs have increased, the direct premium
subsidy has necessarily had to decrease, as shown in the chart below from the
March 2018 MedPAC Report to Congress.[9] Thus,
beneficiaries are receiving less of a subsidy for their monthly premiums as a
result of each change that accelerates beneficiaries into catastrophic
coverage. This impact is most pronounced for lower-cost beneficiaries who never
reach catastrophic coverage, since their primary benefit from the Part D
program is the subsidization of premiums.
Impact on the Federal Government
The federal government’s reinsurance costs move
in the opposite direction of those for high-cost beneficiaries and have
certainly increased as a result of this temporary slowdown in the growth rate
of the catastrophic threshold. Once patients move into catastrophic coverage,
the federal government provides reinsurance by paying 80 percent of the costs
incurred by beneficiaries. The more patients that reach that phase, and the
more quickly they reach it, the higher the cost to the government. The
government’s reinsurance costs have been growing rapidly in recent years, now
accounting for more than two-thirds of the government’s subsidy of the basic
benefit, up from just over one-third in 2010. [10] Reinsurance costs have grown at an average
annual rate of 24 percent since then, more than double the annual rate of
growth prior to that.[11] Between 2016-2018, the federal government
has paid an estimated $2,304 in additional reinsurance costs, on average, for
each non-LIS high-cost enrollee as a result of the reduced threshold. In 2019,
the government is expected to pay an additional $544 in reinsurance costs for
high-cost beneficiaries because of the increased manufacturer rebates and
nearly $1,000 more because of the ACA’s reduced threshold. In 2020, when the
catastrophic threshold increases to $6,650, the government’s reinsurance cost
per beneficiary will still rise, but the increase is expected to be $1,132, on
average, if historical expenditure trends continue, compared with an estimated
$2,432 increase from 2017 to 2018. Moreover, aggregate reinsurance costs will
grow less quickly as less beneficiaries will reach catastrophic coverage.
For the more than 12 million high-cost LIS
beneficiaries, the government’s costs are spread throughout each coverage
phase. The federal government pays all or most of an LIS beneficiary’s
prescription drug costs, including their premiums and most of their
out-of-pocket liabilities. For the more than 2.6 million LIS beneficiaries that
currently reach the catastrophic coverage phase, the government pays less to
cover the beneficiary’s OOP costs in the coverage gap under the reduced
threshold, but those savings are offset by increased expenditures in
catastrophic coverage.
Impact on Drug Manufacturers
With the ACA’s imposition of mandatory rebates
in the coverage gap, drug manufacturers have benefitted from a shorter coverage
gap, saving $1,162 per high-cost enrollee from 2016 to 2018, relative to what
they otherwise would have had to pay without the reduced threshold. Now that
the BBA will require drug companies to pay rebates of 70 percent, an extended
coverage gap will prove even more costly than it otherwise would. Without
passage of the BBA or the ACA’s reduction in the catastrophic coverage
threshold, drug manufacturers would have paid $2,670, on average, in mandatory
coverage gap rebates for each high-cost enrollee in 2019. Increasing the rebate
amount to 70 percent, without the ACA’s changes to the threshold, would
increase their cost $477 per enrollee, but the reduced threshold will save
manufacturers $625 next year, resulting in an average rebate cost of $2,523. In
2020, when the threshold reduction provision expires, drug manufacturers will
pay average rebates of $3,488 for each high-cost beneficiary, nearly $1,000
more than what they will pay in 2019.
Impact on Part D Plan Sponsors
The impact on plan sponsors (i.e. insurance
companies) is less straightforward because they face costs in both the coverage
gap and catastrophic coverage, and their liability is different in the coverage
gap based on whether the beneficiary is taking generic or brand-name medicines.
Because plan sponsors’ liability for brand-name drugs has just reached 15
percent this year—equal to their share of liability in the catastrophic
phase—plan sponsors generally would have benefited until now from a lengthened
coverage gap, where they paid only a small share of the costs, if their
enrollees used a higher share of brand-name drugs. From 2016 through 2018, Part
D sponsors have saved an estimated $121 because of the reduced threshold, on
average, per high-cost beneficiary, with increased costs in catastrophic
coverage offsetting most of their savings in the coverage gap.
Given the BBA’s changes reducing their liability
for brand-name and biosimilar drugs in the coverage gap back down to 5 percent,
insurers will certainly benefit from the threshold rising and extending the
coverage gap, primarily as a result of fewer beneficiaries ever reaching
catastrophic coverage, as explained here. While insurers will substantially
benefit directly from the changes in the BBA, the reduced catastrophic
threshold diminishes their savings. By 2019, insurers will be expected to save
an estimated $40, on average, per high-cost enrollee, compared with estimated
savings of $185 per enrollee had the BBA not been passed. In 2020, insurers
will spend nearly $1,000 more in the coverage gap—primarily because of their
increased liability for generic drugs—and $1,161 more, on average, in
catastrophic coverage for each high-cost beneficiary than they spent in 2019.
Like the government, though, insurers will save substantially in catastrophic
costs as fewer beneficiaries reach that phase of coverage.
Conclusion
The Part D program has justifiably been lauded
for keeping costs below expectations since its inception. If the current trend
of rapidly increasing reinsurance costs continues, however, that praise may no
longer be warranted. It is clear from the evidence that part of the reason for
the growth in reinsurance costs is due to the provision in the ACA that
temporarily slowed the growth rate of the catastrophic coverage threshold, which
caused more beneficiaries to enter catastrophic coverage and to do so more
quickly. This change to the threshold, in combination with allowing the
mandatory drug manufacturer rebates in the coverage gap to count toward
beneficiaries’ TrOOP, exacerbated the problem.
With the catastrophic threshold returning to a
level reflective of the growth in beneficiary expenditures in 2020, the problem
of increasing costs will be somewhat mitigated for the government (i.e.
taxpayers). High-cost beneficiaries, in contrast, will face significant
increases in their OOP expenditures, relative to increases over the past
several years, which may be difficult for many of them to afford. Of course,
the increased manufacturer rebates mandated by the BBA will offset some of these
cost increases for beneficiaries, but will simultaneously reduce the savings
the government would otherwise gain in reduced reinsurance costs when the
catastrophic threshold rises. Subsequently, those rebates do not reflect a
long-term solution to the problem of ever-growing reinsurance costs in the Part
D program.
[1] The Medicare Prescription Drug Account is
the Part D account of the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust
Fund from which Part D benefits are paid.
[3] MedPAC Report to Congress, March 2018, pg
425: http://www.medpac.gov/docs/default-source/reports/mar18_medpac_ch14_sec.pdf
[4] MedPAC Report to Congress, March 2018, pg
424: http://www.medpac.gov/docs/default-source/reports/mar18_medpac_ch14_sec.pdf
[5] Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services, Announcements and Documents: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Health-Plans/MedicareAdvtgSpecRateStats/Announcements-and-Documents.html
[6] 2017 Medicare Trustees Report: https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/ReportsTrustFunds/Downloads/TR2017.pdf
[7] Department of Health and Human Services
Office of Inspector General, January 2017: https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-02-16-00270.pdf
[8] MedPAC Report to Congress, Chapter 14, pg.
423: http://www.medpac.gov/docs/default-source/reports/mar18_medpac_ch14_sec.pdf
[9] MedPAC Report to Congress, Chapter 14,
March 2018: http://www.medpac.gov/docs/default-source/reports/mar18_medpac_ch14_sec.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment