U.S. Spends More on Prescription Drugs than the Iraq War
The Iraq war is estimated to cost each family in the U.S. over $25,000, but that doesn’t come close to how much we spend each year on prescription drugs. In the same five years it took the U.S. to spend $500 billion in Iraq, purchases of prescription drugs climbed a blistering 13% to a record 3.7 billion prescriptions annually1.
What does that total? Accounting for the fact that each prescription costs an average of $68.262… Well, the math says it succinctly!
- Prescription Drugs:
$68.26 * 3,700,000,000 =
$253 billion every year
- Iraq War:
$94 billion a year3
This means that prescription drugs cost Americans 2.5 times more than the war in Iraq
So what are we spending all this cash on? To be blunt: virility pills, cholesterol pills, and depression drugs. The list from Forbes below shows the top ten selling drugs in the U.S. in 2006. Note the top four and numbers 6-7.
| Drug Rank | Sales (2006) | What it Treats |
1. Lipitor |
$8.4 billion | High Cholesterol |
2. Zocor |
$4.4 billion | High Cholesterol |
3. Nexium |
$4.4 billion | Heartburn |
4. Prevacid |
$3.8 billion | Heartburn |
5. Advair |
$3.6 billion | Asthma |
6. Plavix |
$3.5 billion | Heart Disease |
7. Zoloft |
$3.1 billion | Depression |
8. Epogen |
$3.0 billion | Anemia |
9. Procrit |
$3.0 billion | Anemia |
| 10. Aranesp | $2.8 billion | Anemia |
Why Health Care Costs So Much
Many of our health care woes begin with us. Drugs cost so much because there is demand for them. Even though many drugs are necessary for certain conditions, there are still steps that one should take to prevent even reaching the point where one needs prescription drugs.
Quitting smoking, eating right, and exercising go a long way towards improving our health. Other countries are able to have socialized health care simply because their citizens are generally healthier individuals. We think we can pop a pill for all our woes and the trouble will be over. That belief is costing us.
1. IMS Health and The Nielsen Co.
2. Kaiser Family Foundation Prescription Drug Trends, May 2007. http://www.kff.org/rxdrugs/upload/3057_06.pdf
3. Weisman, Jonathan. “Unforseen Spending on Material Pumps of Iraq War Bill.” Washington Post, 20 April, 2006. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/
2006/04/19/AR2006041902594_pf.html
4. Herper, Matthew. “World’s Ten Best-Selling Drugs.” Forbes 22 March, 2006. http://www.forbes.com/2006/03/21/pfizer-merck-amgen
-cx_mh_pk_0321topdrugs.html
Last Updated : Tuesday, March 11, 2008
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