The financial burden from prescription drugs has declined recently for the nonelderly, although it is still high for many.

ABSTRACT: Prescription drug spending and pharmacy benefit design have changed greatly over the past decade. However, little is known about the financial impact these changes have had on consumers. We examined ten years of nationally representative data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and describe trends in two measures of financial burden for prescription drugs: out-of-pocket drug costs as a function of family income and the proportion of all out-of-pocket health care expenses accounted for by drugs. We found that although the percentage of people with high financial burden for prescription drugs increased from 1999 to 2003, it decreased from 2003 to 2007, with a slight increase in 2008. The decline is evidence of the success of strategies to lower drug costs for consumers, including the i

SUBMITTER: Gellad WF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3387787 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature