Penny-pinching and pills: 10 key statistics
About one-fifth of the cost for retail prescriptions comes from patients’ pockets. To offset the expense, some patients cut corners.
In an effort to save money:
- 7.8 percent of adult patients don’t take their medications as prescribed
- 15.1 percent ask their physicians to prescribe a lower priced medication
- 4.2 percent choose to use alternative therapies
- 5.3 percent of adults younger than 65 years old skip doses
- 5.6 percent of the 18-65 year group take less than prescribed
- 7.2 percent of this age group has delayed filling a prescription
- 14 percent of uninsured patients don’t take therapies as prescribed
- 10.4 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries don’t take medication as prescribed
- 6.1 percent of patients with private insurance don’t take medication as prescribed
- 1.6 percent buy their prescribed drugs from another country
The statistics were published in a January 2015 data brief from the National Center for Health Statistics, based on data from 2012.