What's Behind Rising Prescription Costs?

WYPR - 88.1 FM Baltimore | By Sheilah Kast,

Published February 8, 2017 at 11:30 AM EST

Been hit with sticker shock at the pharmacy lately? The American Medical Association says Americans pay more for drugs than any other country, and that their out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs rose 20 percent from 2013 to 2015. What’s behind rising prescription costs? What action on drug costs might we see from the Trump administration? From repealing the Affordable Care Act?

We ask Gerard Anderson, a health economist and director of the John Hopkins Center for Hospital Finance and Management. Plus, we’ll hear about proposal before the Maryland General Assembly to make drug pricing more transparent.

Bills on price transparency: Senate, House

Bills on price gouging: Senate, House

Sheilah Kast

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am. Originally, she hostedWYPR's Dupont-Columbia University award-winning Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast from 2006 - October2015. She began her career at The Washington Star, where she covered the Maryland and Virginia legislatures, utilities, energy and taxes, as well as financial and banking regulation. She learned the craft of broadcasting at ABC News; as a Washington correspondent for fifteen years, she covered the White House, Congress, and the 1991 Moscow coup that signaled the end of the Soviet empire. Sheilahhas been a substitute host on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday and The DianeRehmShow. She has launched and hosted two weekly interview shows on public TV, one about business and one about challenges facing older people.

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Maureen Harvie

Maureen Harvie is a producer for Midday with Dan Rodricks. She began her career at WYPR as an intern for the newsroom, where she covered issues ranging from medical marijuana to off-shore wind energy.

See stories by Maureen Harvie