The last few months have been tough for pharmaceutical companies, and the political environment in Washington isn’t likely to improve in the coming year. Total healthcare spending in the U.S. has begun to rise after several years of slow growth, primarily the result of increased coverage of individuals through Medicaid and private plans subsidized by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
But much blame goes to a rise in prescription drugs expenditures: the annual analysis by actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finds that retail drug spending climbed a hefty 12.2% in 2014, largely due to big outlays for new hepatitis C treatments, along with only moderate expansion of generic drug prescribing as fewer blockbusters lost patent protection.
