This topic focuses on issues related to health care policy and concerns.
Health Care
Medicare Specialty Drug Costs up 45.9 Percent in 2014
WASHINGTON DC. Get ready for higher healthcare costs. The “Affordable” Care Act (“Obamacare”) is getting more expensive. Specialty prescription drug spending saw a whopping 45.9% increase in 2014.
In 2013, specialty prescription drugs saw an increase in costs by 14.7%. Commercial plans saw an increase by 30.9%. More than half of the cost increase came from the area of Hepatitis-C, Multiple Sclerosis and Oncology (cancer) drugs.
Hepatitis-C drugs saw the biggest jump in spending in 2013 with a 1,067.5% increase. Cancer drugs saw an average increase of 37.2%.
Express Scripts, a leading pharmacy benefit management services company found in this 2014 report (PDF) that the biggest cost in medicare spending has to do with specialty prescription drugs. The report said the prescription drug spending (costs) are at the highest level since 2003. Read More…