America Pays Most for Pharmaceuticals

For years, Americans have crossed borders to Canada or Mexico to access the far lower-priced branded pharmaceutical products available in those countries.  A few years ago, several states were setting up websites to enable residents to purchase medicines from Canadian pharmacies, essentially getting around prohibitions on drug reimportation.

So, how bad is it?  In the report Multinational Comparisons of Health Systems Data, 2009, Johns Hopkins researchers Gerard F. Anderson, Ph.d., and Patricia Markovich provide some examples.  

At $878 per capita, pharmaceutical spending was highest in the United States, by far, than in any of the 11 countries compared.  Pharmaceutical spending per capita in the United States was nearly twice as high as the median of $446 in 30 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Countries.  Americans spend 27 percent more per capita for pharmaceuticals than the next most expensive country -- Canada, as you can see in this graph.  (Click to enlarge graph.)

The report's authors, provide another way to look at the relative costs of prescription medicines.  Comparing prices for the 30 most commonly prescribed drugs in 2006 and 2007, and setting the United States at a relative position of 1.0, the rest of the countries compared pay only a fraction of the amount paid in America.  Canadians pay 23 percent less.  The British pay 49 percent less.  The French pay 56 percent less.  New Zealanders pay 66 percent less.  (Click to enlarge graph.)

Tomorrow, I will take a look at prices for two of the world's most prescribed prescription medicines, and also look at one area where pharmaceuticals in America cost less than in the rest of the world.