Shopping for Drugs: 2007 (PDF; 199 KB)
Source: National Center for Policy Analysis

Americans spent nearly one-quarter of a trillion dollars on prescription medicines and over-the-counter (OTC) drug remedies in 2005. Drug spending is expected to continue growing at a rate greater than inflation. Ameri-
cans see their doctors more than 890 million times each year, and two-thirds of office visits to physicians result in prescription drug therapy. Overall, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores estimates that 3.38 billion retail prescriptions were written in 2005. The average cost of those prescriptions was $64.86.

However, most patients can easily lower their drug bills by employing some or all of the strategies detailed in this report. To do so, they must treat drug purchases as they would treat any other prospective purchases — by shopping and comparing prices.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 at 3:41 pm and is filed under Consumer issues, Prescription drugs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.