1、1 Health Care Financing Administration, Office of the Actuary.Congressional Research Service ? The Library of CongressCRS Report for CongressReceived through the CRS WebOrder Code RS20612Updated April 18, 2001Medicare: Prescription Drug Expenditures, 1997Paulette C. MorganAnalyst in Social Legislati
2、onDomestic Social Policy DivisionSummaryMedicare beneficiaries spent, on average, a total of $744 per person for prescriptiondrugs in 1997 (including beneficiaries out-of-pocket expenses and payments made byany third party payers). Approximately 37% of beneficiaries had total prescription drugexpend
3、itures of between $0 and $250. Approximately 25% of beneficiaries had totalprescription drug expenditures between $1 and $250, which represented 4% of overalldrug expenditures for beneficiaries. In contrast, 8% of beneficiaries with total drugexpenditures above $2,000 accounted for 33% of overall dr
4、ug expenditures.Beneficiaries out-of-pocket expense for prescription drugs in 1997 was $347, onaverage, though about 60% of beneficiaries spent less than $250 out-of-pocket onprescription drugs. Beneficiaries with no drug coverage spent, on average, $520 fordrugs, while those with drug coverage had
