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Workforce's Missing Millions - COVID Uptick - Medicare Advantage Marketing Rules

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Medicare Part D Spending on Selected Drugs Exceeds $180 Billion Over 6 Years

Medicare recently announced the first 10 Part D drugs subject to price negotiation as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, and an analysis from AARP’s Public Policy Institute shines new light on the dollars at stake. Total Medicare Part D spending on those first 10 drugs exceeded $180 billion over six years. On average, total spending on the drugs was seven times higher than the average cost of drug development. This spending, which includes only Part D spending and not all revenue, demonstrates the high financial reward for pharmaceutical companies in developing new prescription drugs and how Medicare negotiation will help reduce high prescription drug prices.

The Workforce's Missing Millions

The pandemic drove older workers away. Some retired. Others left jobs. These worker losses, still being felt across the labor market, highlight the opportunity and need for employers to adopt age-inclusive practices that allow workers ages 50-plus to contribute to the workplace longer. The payoff can be great, as older workers provide valuable mentoring, experience, and institutional knowledge — all especially important during turbulent times.

New Medicare Advantage Marketing and Sales Rules Will Help Better Protect Consumers

Following a spike in consumer complaints about confusing and misleading claims made in Medicare Advantage plan marketing efforts, new rules aiming to curb such tactics take effect next month, impacting plans offered for 2024. Yet, when it comes to this increasingly popular private-plan option, ensuring people receive useful, accurate information to help them choose the Medicare option that best meets their needs remains an important issue in need of continued attention and policy work.

August Sees Uptick in Nursing Home COVID Cases

COVID-19 cases and deaths among nursing home residents are rising, the AARP Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard shows. The rate of cases among residents and staff more than doubled during the four weeks ended Aug. 20 compared to the previous four weeks. Deaths among residents increased 80 percent during the same timeframe. This latest dashboard update, the first since May, shows the uptick of COVID in nursing homes has grown over nine consecutive weeks.

Equity-Minded School Nurses Have a Superpower

Equity-minded school nurses are uniquely positioned to partner with school and health systems to improve student and family health and wellness, writes Yuuko Mabrey Johnson, MSN-Leadership, RN, CSN, in this latest blog post from The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action. Johnson calls on creating sustainable partnerships with school nurses to address gaps in medical literacy and social determinants of health. The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action is an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

In the News

Some Prescriptions Have More than Tripled in Price, AARP Says
NewsNation

Medicare's Priciest Drugs May Get Cheaper as Feds Start Negotiations. Big Pharma Objects.
USA Today

The Magic of the Granny Flat
New York Times

Editor-in-Chief: Susan C. Reinhard, RN, PhD, FAAN
Senior Writer/Editor: Carl Levesque

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