CMS Releases FY 2025 Part D Bid Information and Announces New Demonstration

On July 28, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a news alert on the 2025 Part D base beneficiary premiums, as well as a fact sheet on a voluntary Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration. The Medicare Part D national average monthly bid amount for calendar year (CY) 2025 is $179.45 (compared to $64.28 in CY 2024); the CY 2025 Part D base beneficiary premium amount is $36.78 (compared to $34.70 in 2024); and the de minimis amount is $2. The agency noted that it is not releasing the preliminary premium information as it usually does because plan premium information will be impacted by participation in the voluntary model. CMS indicates that it will wait until plans inform the agency of their intent to participate by Aug. 5 and will then release the final Part D premiums in September.

The Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration is a voluntary demonstration for standalone prescription drug plans (PDPs) to test whether additional premium stabilization and revised risk corridors would increase the efficiency and economy of services under the Part D program as the Inflation Reduction Act provisions are implemented. Under the demonstration, “there will be a reduction in the base beneficiary premium of $15 for all participating PDPs, combined with a year-over-year plan premium increase limit of $35 and narrowed risk corridors applied to participating individual (i.e., non-employer) PDPs.”

The demonstration is designed for one year with the parameters described above and at least two subsequent demonstration years, with parameters to be adjusted as necessary. The agency believes that this demonstration could improve the predictability of PDP offerings available to enrollees and improve the efficiency of transitioning to the redesigned Part D benefit. The demonstration reflects the adoption of a policy proposal outlined in Express Scripts’ white paper, Assessing the Impact of the Inflation Reduction Act on the Part D Market, which analyzed the impact of the Part D benefit redesign on costs and premiums and proposed a number of policy options that CMS could implement to mitigate those impacts.