Which drug class is driving the spending growth?

Express Scripts released its annual Drug Trend Report which analyzes costs and spending for their 33.6 million members, it found drugs for inflammatory conditions, such as psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis, drove nearly half of the spending in commercial plans last year. Although diabetes and oncology drugs each contributed less than 20 percent of spending for commercial members, these conditions drove the largest portion for trend for Medicaid and health insurance exchange plans.  According to the report, oncology drugs overtook the top spot by a wide margin for Medicare beneficiaries, accounting for 36.4 percent of the increase in Medicare spending. Read article here…

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