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Prescription drug prices climbed more slowly than overall healthcare costs, according to the most recent health sector economic indicators from Altarum. In addition, healthcare costs are continuing to expand, but more slowly than overall inflation.
The prescription drug price surge was 2.2% in October 2022 compared to the same month the previous year, when it had decreased by -0.7% overall according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), according to Altarum, a non-profit health research and consulting organization.
The fastest-growing health-related categories were hospital services (3.5%), dental care (5.4%), and care in nursing homes (4.2%), all of which were higher than the Health Care Price Index (2.9%).
Physician services (.3%) and prescription medications (2.2%), which were below the Health Care Price Index and far below total inflation, saw the weakest growth in the health sector.
This is significant since economic indicators repeatedly reveal that prescription drugs aren’t responsible for growing healthcare expenses.
Drug price controls will go into effect in 2023
With drug price controls going into force the next year and a new Congress, it’s critical that we keep exposing the truth about healthcare prices and develop strategies to lower consumers’ expenses without compromising innovation.
Good Day BIO argues that “the bill will allow the federal government to set prices on around 100 drugs over the next decade, reducing manufacturers’ revenues, leaving them with insufficient finances to spend on R&D.”
According to the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), adopting this act will result in “lost drugs and lost jobs.”
“Every credible analysis of the Inflation Reduction Act comes to the same conclusion: fewer cures for patients,” said BIO’s former president following the Senate’s passage of the bill.
BIO has opposed the enactment of drug price controls from the very beginning, citing concerns about the impact on drug development and future treatments.
The legislation “would drastically reduce critical investment in innovative therapies and cures that patients depend on, at a time when smaller biotech companies are facing tremendous pressure in the capital markets,” says Nick Shipley, BIO EVP, and Chief Advocacy Officer, in response to the Vital Transformation study.
