High-priced meds hit pocketbooks

Expensive medicines are increasingly hitting seniors and other beneficiaries of Medicare’s prescription drug program, known as Part D, according to a Wall Street Journal study.

In 2015, the median out-of-pocket cost for a drug purchased through Part D was $117. That was up nearly half from $79 in 2011.

Some 220 Part D drugs had annual out-of-pocket costs of $1,000 or more in 2015, up 86 percent from 118 drugs in 2011.

Drug prices rose 14 percent per year overall from 2011 to 2015, the study found.