A growing number of older adults say they can\u2019t afford their prescription medications, a study published Thursday in JAMA Network Open found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 1 in 5 adults ages 65 and up either skipped, delayed, took less medication than was prescribed, or took someone else\u2019s medication last year because of concerns about cost, according to the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat was pretty surprising,\u201d said lead study author Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. A study published in the journal Medical Care found that in 2016 about 1 in 7 older adults were not taking their medication as prescribed because of cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo a pretty big jump,\u201d Dusetzina said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The study\u2019s findings were based on a national survey taken by more than 2,000 older adults from June 2022 through September 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dusetzina attributed the increase to rising inflation and prescription drug costs, which are notoriously high compared to other countries of similar size and wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The study may not reflect the experience of younger individuals, she said, although other studies have shown they also struggle to pay for certain medications, like insulin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes people will keep taking their medication as prescribed despite the cost, but will need to resort to other means \u2014 sometimes extreme \u2014 to afford the medications, Dusetzina said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 30% of the older adults used a copayment card or coupon to afford their medication. A quarter of the respondents asked a physician for a lower-cost medication, and about 17% of them shopped around at pharmacies to find a lower price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 8% of respondents said they went without basic needs \u2014 like gas and groceries \u2014 to afford their medication, while 4.8% of respondents said they went into debt to get their medication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The study\u2019s findings are in line with earlier studies as well as what\u2019s seen in the real world, said Dr. Adam Gaffney, a critical care physician at the Cambridge Health Alliance in Massachusetts who advocates for universal health care coverage. He was not involved in the research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s certainly something that any physician has heard in the clinic that patients sometimes don\u2019t take the medication or didn\u2019t fill them or didn\u2019t start them because of the sticker price,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Inflation Reduction Act \u2014 signed into law shortly before the study survey concluded \u2014 aims to lower the high cost of prescription drugs for older adults, said Tricia Neuman, executive director for the program on Medicare policy at KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Jan. 1, a provision in the law imposed a $35 monthly out-of-pocket cap on the cost of insulin for older adults on Medicare, causing insulin-makers to quickly follow suit for people on private insurance. But some of the law\u2019s other provisions \u2014 like a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap on drug spending and negotiated drug pricing \u2014 won\u2019t go into effect for several more years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cFuture polls will tell us the extent to which further action may be needed to drive down drug prices,\u201d said Neuman, who was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the meantime, outside groups may need to take action, Gaffney said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Billionaire Mark Cuban last year launched the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co., which offers some generic drugs at discounted prices. A study published last June found that Medicare could have saved nearly $4 billion by purchasing generic drugs at the same prices offered by Cost Plus Drug Co.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dusetzina also said that more physicians should get comfortable speaking with their patients about whether they can afford their medications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nearly 90% of respondents in the study said they would be open to talking with their doctor about the cost of the drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPhysicians worry patients don\u2019t want to talk about it,\u201d she said. \u201cI think one way to normalize these conversations is just to ask people if they want to have them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n