Millions of adults in the United States are not taking their prescription drugs because of the cost, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Most adults ages 18 to 64 took at least one prescription drug in 2021. But more than 8% of them — about 9.2 million people — said they tried to save money by skipping doses, taking less than prescribed, or delaying filling a prescription, according to CDC data.
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While average drug costs have not increased in 2021, the number of prescriptions has increased and this has increased spending. More than a third of adults took at least three prescription drugs in 2021, according to the CDC. And data from healthcare analytics firm IQVIA shows that total prescription drug costs increased by nearly 5% from 2020 to 2021, to $63 billion.
Delaying or adjusting medications can lead to more serious health implications and raise the potential for even higher costs if additional treatments are needed.
Previous research has found that around 1 in 6 people with diabetes were rationing their insulin.
“The key finding is that 1.3 million people have rationed insulin in the United States, one of the wealthiest countries in the world,” said Dr. Adam Gaffney, a pulmonologist and intensive care physician at Harvard Medical School and the Cambridge Health Alliance and lead author of the study. to study. “This is a life-saving drug. Insulin rationing can have life-threatening consequences.”
New data from the CDC show wide disparities in how often drug costs cause people not to take their medications as prescribed.
Nearly a quarter (23%) of adults without health coverage were not taking their prescription drugs to reduce costs, compared with less than 7% of those who had private insurance.
Those living with a disability were also about three times more likely than those without a disability to ration their medications, as were people in fair or poor health compared to those in good health.
Women were also more prone to it than men, according to CDC data.
For this report, researchers at the National Center for Health Statistics analyzed responses to the 2021 National Health Survey, a representative survey of US households.
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