Many senior citizens use common brand name medications and the prices of these medications have been soaring! They actually went up 130 times faster than inflammation last year. Chief public policy officer at the AARP, Debra Whitman explained, “This new report once again highlights the high and unrelenting price increases that are shockingly common in the pharmaceutical market. What’s particularly remarkable is that these incredibly high price increases are still occurring in the face of the intense public and congressional criticism of prescription drug pricing practices.”
Researchers looked at the prices from 268 brand named prescription drugs, commonly used among seniors. Many of these drugs treat common chronic illnesses, like cholesterol and blood pressure.
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General inflation for 2015 was 0.1 percent, but costs of medications on average rose 15.5 percent, which is a significant increase.
The average senior takes 4.5 prescribed medications per month, which means the average cost for the use of such drugs would be $26,000.00.
Ninety-seven percent of the drugs that the researchers looked at had a price increase in 2015, and seven of them had a price increase of over 50 percent or more.
Co-author of the study, Leigh Purvis added, “Prescription drug therapy is not affordable when its cost exceeds the patient’s entire income. Even if patients are fortunate enough to have good health care coverage, high prescription drug costs translate into higher out-of-pocket costs — especially for those who pay a percentage of drug costs rather than a fixed co-payment — as well as higher premiums, deductibles and other forms of cost-sharing.”
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Emily Lunardo studied medical sociology at York University with a strong focus on the social determinants of health and mental illness. She is a registered Zumba instructor, as well as a Canfit Pro trainer, who teaches fitness classes on a weekly basis. Emily practices healthy habits in her own life as well as helps others with their own personal health goals. Emily joined Bel Marra Health as a health writer in 2013.
