A recent report from the Government Accountability Office found that while Medicare Part D generic drug prices decreased overall from 2010 to 2015, many showed exorbitant price hikes.
For the study, the GAO analyzed Medicare Part D claims data from the first quarter of 2010 through the second quarter of 2015.
Here are four things to know.
- From 2010 to 2011, 45 generic drugs saw a price increase of 100 percent or more from the first quarter of one year to the first quarter of the next, according to the report. From 2014 to 2015, the number of drugs with these price spikes more than doubled to 103.
- The antibiotic erythromycin jumped from 24 cents per tablet in the first quarter of 2010 to $8.96 in the first quarter of 2015 due to three separate price spikes of at least 100 percent, according to the report.
- The cost of the antidepressant clomipramine HCL rose more than 2,000 percent in one year. The drug increased from 34 cents per capsule in 2013 to $8.43 per capsule in 2014.
- While generic drug prices decreased 59 percent from the first quarter of 2010 to the second quarter of 2015, 351 drugs had a major price increase of at least 100 percent between the same time period. Of the 351 price spikes, 48 rose 500 percent or more, while 15 increased by 1,000 percent or more.
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