Cost of Children's Meds Skyrocket

Analysis of prescription drug cost by Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit management firm, shows that the cost of children’s medication increased to $33.23 per prescription last year, from $28.25 in 1999.

Reasons

In this category, the per-prescription cost increase was fueled by higher prices, use of more expensive medications, as opposed to generic brands, and use of new formulations, which cost more but are easier for children to take.

Antibiotics represent the lion’s share of the costs, with penicillin and cephalosporin accounting for almost a third of all medications prescribed to children in the under 10 age group.

The figures, based on a sample of 8.8 million plan members, show that on the whole, prescription drug costs increased by 16% on average to $449.74 per member for 2000, and the number of prescriptions per member per year increased by almost 4% to 8.6 prescriptions per member.