Drug costs rise as economy slides

USA TODAY --

April 3, 2008
By Julie Appleby, USA TODAY

People with health insurance are having more trouble paying for prescription drugs as higher out-of-pocket costs for medications and a slowing economy strain family budgets, according to surveys and health care analysts.

The Virginia-based National Patient Advocate Foundation, which helps people struggling to pay medical bills, found that 31% of the 44,729 people it aided last year cited drug co-payments — the patient's portion of the drug's cost — as their top medical-debt problem.

View the complete article