Prescription Drug Prices Worry Seniors

The typical American senior taking three prescription drugs paid $175.56 more for medications over the 12 months ending in September 2004 than over the previous year, according to the most recent figures available from AARP. Of the 197 most-used drugs by elderly patients, 161 went up in price during that time, making the chances very good that you're paying more for your treatments than you did in 2003.

If prescription drug affordability were measured in headlines, 2004 would have been a windfall year for American seniors. Congress fought over drug reimportation legislation. Consumer groups hammered away at drugmakers for high prices. President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry battled over whether Medicare should have the right to negotiate lower prices on behalf of seniors.

Of course, prescription drug prices are measured in dollars, not headlines. And for all the wrangling and debates coming out of Washington, the bottom line is that most seniors paid substantially more for drugs this year than they did in 2003.

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Price hikes were not limited to seniors without private prescription drug coverage. More than half of 333 large companies raised premiums and co-payments for retirees with company-sponsored prescription drug plans in 2004, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey released in December. . .