Photo Credit: Oleg Elkov

As people with diabetes age into Medicare, they face increased quarterly out-of-pocket costs for medication, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. The study authors examined whether reaching age 65 years is associated with changes in type 2 diabetes (T2D) medication out-of-pocket costs and use. The analysis included seven years of prescription drug claims data for 129,997 people with T2D identified from the TriNetX Diamond Network (before and after turning 65 years). The researcher team found that reaching age 65 years was associated with an increase of $23.04 in mean quarterly out-of-pocket costs for T2D drugs, including an increase of $56.36 at the 95th percentile of spending, after use adjustment. At age 65 years, use decreased by 5.3% (3.40 claims per quarter to 3.22 claims per quarter). A shift in use composition showed increased insulin use, which was associated with additional increases in patient costs.