Nearly three-quarters of the public (73%) think prescription drugs costs are
Asked for their views about why drugs are expensive, 77% of the public cited drug company profits, while 64% said the cause was the cost of medical research, 54% said the cost of advertising and marketing, and 49% said it was the result of lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies.
The survey asked who should pay for high-cost drugs. About 7 in 10 (71%) said health insurance should always pay for an expensive new drug recommended by a doctor when no lower-cost alternative exists, even if it eventually leads to higher premiums for everyone.
About 6 in 10 (58%) said insurance should only pay if an expensive new drug has been proven more effective than existing treatments. Only 17% said patients should be required to cover all or most of the cost themselves.
Just over half (53%) of the public believe there is not as much government regulation limiting the price of prescription drugs as there should be. Nearly 3 in 10 (28%) say there is about the right amount of regulation, and just 12% say there is too much regulation of prescription drug prices.
Half of those surveyed said they currently take prescription medicine. Of these, 76% say they find it easy to pay the cost of their medicine, while 21% say it is difficult. That rises to 34% among those with lower incomes.
Because of the cost of drugs, 25% of those taking prescription medicine say they have not filled prescriptions, skipped doses or taken less than prescribed.
The survey was conducted by phone June 2-9, 2015, among a random sample of 1,200 adults. The margin of error is 3%.