A Path Toward Understanding and Controlling U.S. Prescription Drug Spending
<p>Prescription drugs account for 17 percent of total U.S. health care spending — a share that is expected to rise over the next decade as costs outpace those for all other health care services. In a <a href="/blog/2017/path-toward-understanding-and-lowering-us-prescription-drug-spending">new blog post</a>, The Commonwealth Fund’s Shawn Bishop and Don Moulds discuss the impact escalating drug costs are having on consumers, as well as policy proposals for containing these costs.</p><p>The authors also introduce the Commonwealth Fund’s new initiative to inform efforts to lower pharmaceutical spending growth and make drugs more affordable to consumers. Recently, the Commonwealth Fund released a report by former congressman Henry Waxman and colleagues on the root causes of, and possible solutions to, high U.S. drug prices. </p>
<p>Also listen to the latest episode of “<a href="/publications/podcast/2017/oct/why-are-us-prescription-drug-prices-so-high">New Directions in Health Care: The Commonwealth Fund Podcast</a>,” featuring Waxman and Bishop, as well as David Mitchell of the nonprofit Patients for Affordable Drugs. </p>