Drug prices charged by Part D plans for the most commonly prescribed brand-name medications have risen an average of 6.8 percent since December 2006, according to the House committee on oversight and government reform, the Washington Post reported.

Committee staff examined price changes for the top 10 best-selling brand-name drugs in 2004 between the first year of the drug benefit and four months into the second year. The biggest price increase was seen in Aricept, used to treat Alzheimer’s disease, which went from costing an average of $148.26 a month under Part D plans in December to $165.06 last month, an increase of 11.3 percent. The average monthly cost for the widely prescribed cholesterol drug Lipitor rose 9.6 percent from $76.91 at the end of last year to $84.27.

According to House investigators, the spike in prescription drug costs to people with Medicare is more than twice the 3 percent average increase in wholesale prices for the same medicines.

Data about price increases come on the heels of two recent failed legislative efforts to combat rising prescription drug costs - the Dorgan/ Snow importation legislation and legislation to allow the Secretary of the Department Health and Human Services to negotiate with prescription drug manufactures on behalf of Medicare recipients.

Information for the above article compiled in part from Medicare Watch, a publication of the Medicare Rights Center.