Lowering out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs is among American voters’ top health concerns, a new poll released by a drug company trade association concludes.
Forty-six percent of voters urged policymakers to reduce the amount of money they have to pay to insurance companies out of pocket, according to the nationwide poll released by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).
And 76 percent of registered voters surveyed favor efforts to limit what senior citizens pay for prescription medicines in the Medicare Part D program.
Overall, nearly all voters view prescription drug coverage as a key health insurance benefit, the poll found, and nearly three-quarters of voters who take prescription medications find little difficulty in paying for their drugs each month.
In addition, respondents who favor more competition to cut drug costs for patients outnumbered those who back government price controls by a 2-to-1 margin, according to poll results.
“The new polling data also shows that voters are not willing to accept misguided schemes like price controls that would hurt future innovation and restrict patient access, but rather see more market-based competition as the best solution,” BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood said in a prepared statement.
BIO represents biotech firms, academic institutions and other related groups in the United States and more than 30 other nations.
