However, the main cost problem is, in many respects, because of something good. Medicine is becoming less an art and more of a science. Pharmaceutical companies are developing numerous drugs that allow physicians to better treat patients. But they are expensive. Last year, while overall health costs rose 7.3 percent, the cost of prescription drugs was up 15.2 percent.
Drugs cost so much because they are expensive to develop.
And we in the United States and a few other developed countries bear most of that burden. In Mexico, for example, the same drugs can cost much less. That's because the government sets limits on drug prices. Of course, we could do the same here. However, if we did, the pharmaceutical companies wouldn't have enough profits to develop those new medicines.