US government seeks to decrease prescription drug spending in the coming years

The US government health agency spent a projected amount of $457 billion in 2015 due to prescription drugs. Experts sees a continuous rise of the percentage of the overall healthcare spending's for the years to come.

According to CNBC, the United States spent 16 .7 percent of its budget for all personal health care services in 2015. It increased 1.4 percent since 2013 which is based on the report from the office of the assistant secretary and evaluation of the US Health and Human Services Department.

The agency proposed a program that would change the compensation method of how Medicare pays the doctors who administer the drugs as a way to cut off the spending. The part of Medicare B is the one that pays the physicians based on the average price of the drug plus 6 percent. The new model would somehow pay 2.5 percent plus a flat fee rate of $16.80 per drug per day, as per Reuters.

According to the government agency, an estimated $328 billion was spent on buying retail drugs and another $128 billion on non-retail drugs such as cancer treatment that are being administered through hospitals or doctors clinic.

The affordability of medicines have been an important issue during this 2016 presidential elections and has become a significant platform for potential candidates. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, about a decade ago, prescription spending slowed down as more generic drugs were introduced in the market against the introduction of new blockbuster drugs.

The agency reported that the reason for the increase spending from 2010 to 2014 was due to the factors which include the increase population, the number of prescription per person and inflation which also causes the prices of the drug to increase.

However, according to PhRMA, a lobbying group of the drug industry, the report ignores the tremendous effect of these medicines to patients that were given treatment to diseases that previously has little or no options like cancer and multiple sclerosis.

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US government, US government spending, US government health agency, US government health agency budget, prescription drugs, Medicare B, cancer treatment, multiple sclerosis treatment

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