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I first met Tracey when she was admitted to the hospital for incessant diarrhea and dehydration from an inflammatory bowel disease flareup. As I pieced together her story from her chart, I learned she’d been battling Crohn’s disease for years, a journey initially marked by repeated emergency room visits, hospital stays and rounds of steroids. Starting a biologic medication had been transformative; on paper, it had wiped her chart clean of any further hospitalizations. Outpatient notes celebrated her ability to regain control over her life, return to work and enjoy...

Medicare’s $2,000 cap on what beneficiaries pay out-of-pocket for prescription drugs covered by the health insurance program will begin on Jan. 1. The price cap will apply to drugs under Medicare Part D. With roughly 53 million people across the country on this plan in 2024, the cap is projected to lower costs for many of those enrolled. “If your out-of-pocket spending on covered drugs reaches $2,000 (including certain payments made on your behalf, like through the Extra Help program), you’ll automatically get ‘catastrophic coverage.’ That means you won’t have...