A growing number of older adults say they can’t afford their prescription drugs, according to a study published Thursday in JAMA Open Network found.
According to the study, about 1 in 5 adults age 65 and older skipped, delayed, underprescribed, or took someone else’s medication in the past year because of cost concerns.
«That was pretty surprising,» said the study’s lead author, Stacie Dusetzina, a professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. A study published in the journal Medical Care found that in 2016 about 1 in 7 older adults were not taking their medications as prescribed due to cost.
«So a big jump,» Dusetzina said.
The study findings were based on a national survey of more than 2,000 older adults from June 2022 to September 2022.
Dusetzina attributed the rise to rising inflation and the costs of prescription drugs, which are noticeably high compared to other countries of similar size and wealth.
The study may not reflect the experience of younger people, he said, although other studies have shown that they also struggle to pay for certain medications, such as insulin.
Sometimes people will continue to take their drugs as prescribed despite the cost, but will have to resort to other, sometimes extreme, means to pay for the drugs, Dusetzina said.
About 30% of older adults used a copay card or coupon to pay for their medications. A quarter of those surveyed asked a doctor for a lower-cost drug, and about 17% of them searched pharmacies to find a lower price.
More than 8% of those surveyed said they did not have basic necessities, such as gas and groceries, to pay for their medicines, while 4.8% of those surveyed said they went into debt to get their medicines.
The study findings are in line with previous studies as well as what is seen in the real world, said Dr. Adam Gaffney, an acute care physician at Cambridge Health Alliance in Massachusetts who advocates for universal health care coverage. He was not involved in the investigation.
“It’s certainly something that any doctor has heard in the clinic that patients sometimes don’t take medications or don’t refill or start them because of the price tag,” he said.
The Reducing Inflation Act, signed into law shortly before the study survey concluded, is aimed at lowering the high cost of prescription drugs for older adults, said Tricia Neuman, executive director of the Medicare policy program at KFF. formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation. .
On January 1, a provision of the law imposed a $35 monthly out-of-pocket cap on the cost of insulin for seniors with Medicare, prompting insulin manufacturers to quickly follow suit for people with private insurance. But some of the other provisions of the law, like a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap on drug costs and negotiated drug prices, won’t take effect for several years.
«Future surveys will tell us to what extent more action may be needed to lower drug prices,» said Neuman, who was not involved in the study.
In the meantime, outside groups may need to take action, Gaffney said.
Last year, billionaire Mark Cuban launched the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co., which offers some generic drugs at reduced prices. A study published last June found that Medicare could have saved nearly $4 billion by buying generic drugs at the same prices as Cost Plus Drug Co.
Dusetzina also said more doctors should feel comfortable talking to their patients about whether they can afford their medications.
Nearly 90% of those surveyed in the study said they would be willing to talk to their doctor about the cost of drugs.
“Doctors worry that patients don’t want to talk about it,” he said. “I think one way to normalize these conversations is to ask people if they want to have them.”