Medicare is paying wildly different prices for the same drug, even for people insured under the same plan. As a result, people covered by Medicare can be on the hook for thousands of dollars in additional out-of-pocket costs depending on where they live and which drug plan they choose. Take commonly used generic versions of prostate-cancer treatment Zytiga. They have more than 2,200 prices in Medicare drug plans. The generics ring in at roughly $815 a month in northern Michigan, about half of what they cost in suburban Detroit, while jumping to $3,356 in a county along Lake Michigan, according to a recent analysis of Medicare data.
