Since 1999, the out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs have declined for many Americans. However, prescription costs continue to be a challenge for lower income families and those individuals with public insurance, according to a recent RAND Corporation study published in the February edition of the journal Health Affairs.
“Our findings are evidence of the success of strategies already in place to help lower the cost of medications for consumers, even during a period when medication use was increasing,” said Dr Walid Gellad, the study’s lead author and a researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “But the burden of drug costs remains high for many Americans, which is an important issue for policymakers to consider as health reform extends insurance coverage to more people.”
Over the last decade, changes in healthcare benefits encouraged consumers to use generic prescription drugs. Plus, during this same time, many high-demand medications became available in generic form. Therefore, according to researchers, the primary reason for the drop in consumers’ prescription drug costs is an increased use of generic medications.
The study examined information regarding individual drug expenses between 1999 and 2008 among people followed by the federal Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.
According to the results, the percentage of people with high financial burden for prescription drugs increased from 1999 to 2003, decreased from 2003 to 2007, and had a slight increase in 2008. Individuals living in a family that spent more than 10% of its income on out-of-pocket prescription drug expenses were considered to have a “high financial burden.”
Researchers also discovered considerable cost burden differences based on family income and types of insurance. In 2008, the percentage of individuals living in families with a high drug cost obligation was:
- 7.5% for patients with public insurance
- 4.5% among individuals with privately purchased health plans
- 1.2% for those with group or employer-related insurance
“These differences are important as the Affordable Care Act will expand coverage to 24 million people through new health insurance exchanges that build on the nongroup insurance market,” Gellad said. “There is the expectation that future nongroup policies will provide better, more-generous drug coverage than existing policies, but the level of generosity remains to be seen.”
Source: RAND Corporation.