fb-pixelMost Americans believe prescription drug prices are unreasonable - The Boston Globe Skip to main content

Most Americans believe prescription drug prices are unreasonable

Roughly 8 in 10 Americans believe that prices for prescription drugs are unreasonable and support various ideas to lower costs, such as allowing Medicare to negotiate with drug makers and enforcing price caps on high-priced medicines for certain illnesses such as cancer, according to a poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Moreover, two-thirds are in favor of creating an independent group to oversee prices, 71 percent believe they should be able to import medicines from Canada, and nearly 9 in 10 support the notion that drug makers should be required to disclose information on how prices are set.

Advertisement



The survey, which queried more than 1,200 Americans, was conducted in mid-September, shortly after controversy erupted over Mylan Pharmaceuticals and its pricing for EpiPen.

But outrage has hardly been confined to any one company or treatment. Concerns have spread to generics, which are traditionally lower-cost alternatives to brand-name medicines, as well as new drugs for hard-to-treat diseases, notably hepatitis C.

The issue has become so highly charged that drug prices are a talking point in the presidential campaign, and federal and state lawmakers have introduced legislation to contain rising costs, which 77 percent of Americans believe are unreasonable. This is up from 72 percent a year ago, according to Kaiser.

The survey canvassed Americans on their reactions to some of the proposals. For instance, 66 percent favor creating an independent group that would oversee pricing, a notion that Hillary Clinton recently proposed.

The survey also found that 86 percent of Americans believe drug makers should be required to disclose data used to set prices. In Washington, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill this month to justify certain price hikes.

There is less enthusiasm for other notions. Only 47 percent of those surveyed favor eliminating prescription drug ads, which is backed by the American Medical Association.

Advertisement




Ed Silverman can be reached at ed.silverman@statnews.com.