Despite the improvement, more than 8 million nonelderly Americans lived in families with high drug-cost burden in 2008 and one in four devoted more than half of their total out-of-pocket medical spending to prescription drugs.
The primary reason for the drop in consumers' prescription drug costs is an increased use of generic medications, according to researchers. Over the last decade, changes in health care benefits encouraged consumers to use generics and many high-demand medications became available in generic form.
While prescription drug spending accounts for 10 percent of all health care spending in the United States, out-of-pocket costs for prescription medication make up a much larger percentage of individual health spending, particularly among low-income people with public insurance and those with chronic conditions such as diabetes.
Latest Comments