It’s not your imagination – prescription drugs are becoming more expensive. According to a recent study supplied by the AARP, the average cost for a year’s supply of a prescription drug doubled in just seven years to more than eleven thousand dollars. That represents approximately three quarters of the average annual Social Security benefit.
The AARP researchers found that the prices of prescription drugs have been rising more quickly since two thousand and seven and that price inflation is likely to continue. Not coincidentally, a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that twenty four percent of Americans are having difficult paying for their medicines.
That share rises to forty three percent for those in poor health. Retail prices for medicines often increase by 10 percent or more each year. Prices for 622 widely used drugs, representing a mix of generic pills, brand name drugs and high priced specialty drugs for complex conditions, surged nine point four percent in twenty thirteen alone.
As reported by the Associated Press, specialty drugs for cancer, hepatitis C and rare diseases drove the increase. The average widely used specialty drug cost more than fifty three thousand dollars in twenty thirteen.
