Branded drugs driving up US healthcare costs, insurer says

15 November 2018

One of the USA’s largest insurers has pointed to the increase in the cost of branded medicines as a key reason for US healthcare costs going up even as generics grab a greater share of the market.

BlueCross BlueShield Association (BCBSA) has provided an update on the 2017 Health of America report in which it was revealed that there had been a steady increase in overall drug spending between 2010 and 2016. This occurred despite the fact that inexpensive generic medicines dominated the market, representing 82% of total prescriptions filled in 2016.

In response to this finding, BCBSA and Blue Health Intelligence looked more deeply into the issue. Their latest findings show that spending on branded patent-protected drugs and branded specialty drugs has accelerated rapidly over the last eight years.

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