About two in three adults in the US take prescription drugs. And, nearly one in three take four or more prescription drugs. As drug prices rise, even with Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage, nearly 20 percent of older adults with Medicare are very worried about how they will pay for their drugs.
A new KFF poll finds that 60 percent of Americans taking prescription drugs are concerned about how they will pay for them. Forty percent of them report skipping doses or delaying filling their prescriptions or not filling them altogether because of their cost. The vast majority, across party lines, blame the pharmaceutical companies for “unreasonable” drug prices; roughly 80 percent recognize drug company profits as the primary cause of high drug prices.
The cost of weight-loss GLP-1 medications is of particular concern for Americans. They struggle to afford them. Medicare currently only covers them for certain populations.
Most Americans, both Republicans and Democrats, want the government to regulate drug prices. They either want more Medicare drug price negotiation or limits on the amounts drug companies can raise their prices from one year to the next. Of course, limits on how much companies can raise drug prices do nothing to affect the launch price of new drugs, which keeps going higher and higher.
TrumpRx and other Trump administration initiatives to lower drug prices are primarily focused on helping reduce federal and state Medicaid drug costs and delivering slightly lower costs on some drugs for people without health insurance.
Sixty percent of older adults say that they take four or more medicines. As with working adults, it has become increasingly hard for them to afford their drugs. Affordability is particularly hard for people taking four or more medicines.
Overall more than a third of people taking four or more medicines, 37 percent, face challenges paying for them. Nearly 20 percent of people with Medicare are “very worried” about being able to pay for their drugs.
More than 70 percent of Americans believe the government should be doing more to regulate prescription drug prices, including 68 percent of Republicans and 77 percent of Democrats.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Medicare will cover weight-loss drugs in 2027
- One-third of drugs on TrumpRx cost more than in UK
- 2026: Medicare Part D prescription drug costs and benefits
- 2026: Medicare Part D prescription drug costs and benefits
- One third of Social Security benefits spent on Medicare costs
