In the News
MEDICARE TARGETS NEXT Rx PRICE CUTS
Medications used by more than 5 million Medicare beneficiaries to treat conditions such as cancer and diabetes—and popular obesity drugs—were picked by the federal government for the second round of price negotiations mandated by law. The drugs are among the costliest for Medicare’s Part D program, accounting for about $41 billion in annual spending.
Medicare’s parent agency was given authority to designate drugs critical to the health of older Americans for price negotiations in the prescription drug provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which AARP had advocated for as part of a yearslong campaign to lower prescription drug prices.
“For too long, big drug companies have padded their profits by setting outrageous prices ... forcing seniors to skip prescriptions,” says AARP Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer Nancy LeaMond.
The new prices will be negotiated this year, and manufacturers will have to meet them by 2027.
On the new list are Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy, all of which use the same active ingredient (semaglutide) and are prescribed to treat type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease or weight loss. Several cancer drugs were also named.
A 2024 AARP survey found that nearly half of people reported not filling a prescription due to its cost, or knowing someone in that situation. Prices for several of the 15 medications have nearly doubled since they became available, a recent AARP report found.
Here are the new drugs selected for price negotiations:
Dementia Risk to Double by 2060, Research Shows
Americans face a lifetime risk of dementia twice as high as earlier estimates, says a study published in Nature Medicine.
Researchers found that a 55-year-old has a 36 percent chance of developing dementia by age 95. They reached that conclusion by closely tracking the health of 15,000 study participants over more than two decades. Participants underwent cognitive exams and were interviewed by phone. The team also examined medical records.
While researchers could confirm the dementia diagnosis for only 36 percent, another 6 percent showed clear symptoms, says coauthor Marilyn Albert, director of the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and a member of AARP’s Global Council on Brain Health. An estimated 514,000 American adults developed dementia in 2020, But the study projects that number will increase to about 1 million annually by 2060 as the U.S. population ages.
LEGAL VICTORY FOR DISABLED OLDER ADULTS
A federal judge has ruled that the District of Columbia government failed to offer adequate in-home care options for older people with disabilities, a legal victory AARP Foundation attorneys had pursued for 14 years.
The ruling “affirms the right of thousands of people with disabilities to choose how and where they live,” says Kelly Bagby, vice president of litigation for AARP Foundation, which represented those bringing the suit.
AARP Foundation filed the lawsuit in 2010, saying thousands of people with disabilities in D.C. were unnecessarily institutionalized in nursing facilities, which violated Americans with Disabilities Act provisions that governments must provide community-based services for people with disabilities whenever possible, AARP Foundation claimed.
Attorneys for the District of Columbia argued that a lack of housing prevented residents from transferring out of the nursing facilities.
But Judge Paul L. Friedman found in December that D.C. violated the ADA and ordered the District to provide sufficient in-home services.
CURSIVE CODE
The National Archives is looking for Americans with the dying skill of reading cursive handwriting. Volunteers will join about 9,000 individuals already working to transcribe digitized documents from the nearly 360 million in the Archives’ files dating back to the Revolutionary War.