Expenditures on prescription drugs are projected to have accounted for 16.7 percent of the $2.729 trillion the U.S. spent on healthcare in 2015, according to the report. Spending on retail drugs accounted for an estimated additional $328 billion, and another $128 billion was spent on non-retail drugs, such as cancer treatments or other therapies administered in a physician’s office or hospital.
HHS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation said the spending increase from 2010 to 2014 was due to several factors: 10 percent due to population growth, 30 percent due to the rising number of prescriptions per person, 30 percent due to inflation and 30 percent due to price increases that exceeded the inflation growth rate, according to the report.
Drug industry lobbying group PhRMA responded to the agency’s report, saying it “ignores the tremendous value medicines provide to patients including many that offer improved treatment options for conditions that previously had few or no options such as cancer and multiple sclerosis,” according to Reuters.
Based in part on National Health Expenditure Accounts estimates from CMS, HHS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation predicts total drug spending will rise to $535 billion in 2018 and account for 16.8 percent of total healthcare spending, according to Reuters.
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