The latest report to chronicle the rising cost of prescription medicines comes from a U.S. Senate committee that found prices for the 20 drugs most widely prescribed through Medicare Part D in 2015, on average, increased 12 percent each year between 2012 and 2017.
Moreover, a dozen of the medicines saw price hikes of 50 percent of more during that time and six of the drugs experienced price increases of more than 100 percent. In one case, the weighted average wholesale cost for one medicine — Nitrostat, which is used to prevent chest pain — rose by 477 percent.
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The takeaway would seem to be that analysis is really speculation when the real numbers are secret? Who designed the rules of this game?