UHC: Prioritizing the Perpetual Rise in Pharmacy Costs

It’s a safe bet that, in 2024, employers and employees will spend even more money on prescription drugs than they have in the past due to the current economy. In fact, drugmakers started 2023 by raising the prices of 450 products, with the expectation that more price hikes are to come.¹

But this has been the case for years. Total drug spending continues to inch up year after year with the cost of more than 1,000 drugs increasing an average of 31.6% since 2016.²  What has driven the upward trend? Higher usage rates combined with ongoing price increases and new drugs coming into the market are primary factors.

Keep reading on UHC.com to learn more about how addressing the perpetual rise in pharmacy costs requires a multi-pronged approach involving integration, collaboration, and innovation to achieve better health outcomes, simplified experiences, and lower costs for all stakeholders involved.

Footnotes

1. Blank, Christine, Drug Makers Start 2023 With Price Hikes. Formulary Watch, Jan. 4, 2023. Available: https://www.formularywatch.com/view/drug-makers-start-2023-with-price-hikes.

2. Bosworth, Arielle, et al. Price increases for prescription drugs, 2016-2022. ASPE, Sept. 30, 2022. Available: https://aspe.hhs.gov/reports/prescription-drug-price-increases. Accessed: Nov. 28, 2023.