Americans spend far too much of their income on health care, and the cost of drugs remains a sore spot, particularly for older people. Households in almost 1,100 of the nation’s 3,142 counties spend more than 10 percent of all health costs on pharmaceuticals, according to a Social Explorer analysis of data compiled by Easy Analytic Software Inc.

While the burden of drug costs falls most heavily in counties with an aging population, the financial pain is spread across the country. The highest percentage of drug costs was found in Hickory County, Mo., where 10.6 percent of healthcare costs are devoted to drugs. It was followed by Harding, N.M. (10.6 percent) and La Paz County, Ariz. (10.5 percent). Use Social Explorer’s easy-to-navigate, award-winning tools to examine drug costs as a percentage of health care budgets in your county.

Drug Costs, Percentage of Health Budgets, 2020 MPD. Click here to explore further.

Author: Frank Bass