AARP Report: Rx Price Watch — this June 2019 analysis found the prices of widely used specialty prescription drugs grew more than three times faster than general inflation in 2017. The average annual price for a single specialty drug used on a chronic basis is now nearly $79,000, compared to $27,824 in 2006. These drugs are among the most expensive on the market; prices that can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. The annual specialty drug cost was also more than three times the median income for Medicare beneficiaries ($26,200) and over four-and-a-half times higher than the average Social Security retirement benefit ($16,848) according to the authors. The report concluded that if these trends continue, older Americans will be unable to afford the specialty prescription drugs that they need, leading to poorer health outcomes and higher health care costs in the future.
