Adults Skipping Medicines to Save Money, Research Finds [View all]

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-09/adults-skipping-medicines-to-save-money-research-finds.html

Adults who haven’t reached retirement age were twice as likely as those who have to skip their prescribed medications to save money, a U.S. study found.

About 20 percent of adults regardless of age have asked their doctors for a lower cost treatment, according to the study released today by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Spending on drugs is expected to increase an average of 6.6 percent a year from 2015 through 2021, the Kaiser Family Foundation has reported.

Americans spent $45 billion out-of-pocket on retail prescription drugs in 2011, the CDC said. The Affordable Care Act is expected to expand access in 2014 when medication coverage is considered an essential benefit of any health plan offered in new insurance marketplaces called exchanges.

“If you’re not insured or you face high co-payments, you’re going to stretch your prescriptions,” said Steve Morgan, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health in Vancouver. “Even among insured populations, there is this invincibility mindset among the very young. Older people are more likely to adhere to chronic therapies over a longer period of time than younger.”