Trending News Today: Cancer Drug Costs Increase Above Inflation Rate

A bipartisan bill to stabilize the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace has gained support from 24 lawmakers, according to The Hill. This bill would continue ACA subsidies for 2 years and allow states to waive certain provisions of the law. The novel approach to healthcare reform has received positive opinions from 12 Republicans and 12 Democrats thus far, according to the article.

A new study revealed that the cost of injectable cancer treatments rose significantly over an 8-year period, an increase that greatly surpassed the rate of inflation, according to STAT. The authors found that even older medications that had competitors on the market faced price surges. Specifically, 24 branded cancer drugs skyrocketed 25% and after adjusting for inflation, the costs rose by 18%, according to the article. These large increases may threaten patient access to cancer treatment, according to the authors.

After experiencing an uptick in costs and enrollment in Medicaid, states are now seeing more stability, which suggests that it is reaching its peak, according to ABC News. A study conducted by Kaiser Family Foundation discovered that enrollment in Medicaid slowed to just 2.7% in 2017 compared with a 13.9% increase in 2015, ABC reported. The big boom in 2015 was related to the ACA, which allowed states to expand their programs to include more individuals.