Good: US penetration of generic drugs rose again in 2007, when 67% of all Rx’s were filled with a generic, up from 63% in 2006 and 60% in 2005. This caused overall spending for drugs in 2007 to rise at only 4.9%, the slowest rate in several decades. (4.9% was above the rate of general price inflation, however.)
Bad: 2007 healthcare costs as a % of GDP reached the highest-ever level of 16.2%. This rise is exactly as projected by the gold-colored line in the following chart I first posted two years ago (and have reposted many times since):
A few other healthcare factoids from 2007:
• Total healthcare spending was $2.2T, which comes out to $7,421 per capita.
• Prescriptions drugs made up only 10% of total healthcare spending.
• Federal and state government’s share of total healthcare spending was 46%, up from 38% in 1970.
• Medicare Part D (the drug benefit launched in 2006) cost $47.6B.
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