WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Soaring U.S. drug costs prompted one in seven Americans under the age of 65 to do without prescription medicine in 2007, a study indicates.
The figure was up substantially from 2003, when one in 10 people in the same demographic group went without prescribed drugs because they couldn't afford them, The New York Times reported.
The latest figure could rise because of the economic slowdown, warned Laurie Felland, a senior researcher for the Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington and lead author of the study.
"Our findings are particularly troublesome given the increased reliance on prescription drugs to treat chronic conditions," Felland said. "People who go without their prescriptions experience worsening health and complications."
Felland said the people least able to afford medicine often were those who needed them most -- uninsured, working-age adults suffering from at least one chronic medical condition. Nearly two-thirds of that group surveyed said they hadn't filled a prescription.
High drug costs affected insured people, too, the survey found. One in 10 workers with employer-supplied insurance went without a prescription medication in 2007, up from 8.7 percent in 2003.
The study was based on the 2007 Health Tracking Household Survey, a national telephone survey of 10,400 adults under age 65.
