Number of Americans using $100,000 in medicines triples

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/13/us-usa-pharmaceuticals-costs-idUSKBN0NY08H20150513

More than a half-million U.S. patients had medication costs in excess of $50,000 in 2014, an increase of 63 percent from the prior year, as doctors prescribed more expensive specialty drugs for diseases such as cancer and hepatitis C, according to an Express Scripts report released on Wednesday…

Health insurance covered 97.4 percent of the drug expenses among patients prescribed at least $50,000 worth of medicines in 2014, according to Express Scripts, the largest U.S. pharmacy benefit manager. By contrast, patients with less than $1,000 in total prescription medication costs paid 35 percent of the bill out of pocket…

Anti-depressant use among those also taking a specialty medicine was more than twice the national average, the report found…