There's also a great deal more drug-based preventive care, designed to treat risky conditions like high cholesterol and hypertension before they land people in the hospital. These new drugs have improved the lives of the elderly immeasurably. But many cost thousands of dollars a year, and the prices are rising. Drug costs rose at four times the rate of inflation last year, and they have grown almost as fast for most of the past two decades. Partly for that reason, drugs are the fastest-growing share of health costs, rising at almost four times the rate of hospital spending.
Seniors represent a vastly disproportionate share of that cost.
People over 65 represent 12.4 percent of the U.S population, but they account for over a third of drug expenditures. Despite these rocketing expenses, insurance coverage for drugs is getting worse, not better. A third of seniors pay for their medications entirely out of pocket. But that figure is misleading, because coverage for the other two-thirds is very patchy. Unlike the fairly comprehensive coverage most working people enjoy, retiree plans tend to have large deductibles and copayments, and there's a cap on the annual payout.