A new Kaiser Family Foundation study finds that employer-based health plans cover 42 percent of prescription drug costs. The study, using data from 2017, shows some of the complexity around prescription drug spending at a time when rising drug costs have been in the spotlight during health care policy debates.

With private health plans covering the largest share of drug costs, or $140 billion, Medicare Part D covered 30 percent, or $101 billion. Medicaid covered 10 percent, at $33 billion, while consumers paid out of pocket for $47 billion in prescription drug spending, or 14 percent. "Other payers" accounted for a relatively small amount of drug spending--$13 billion, or 4 percent.

The KFF study noted that the three major payors in the U.S system—private plans, Medicare, and Medicaid, account for 82 percent of prescription drug spending.

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