A leap in generic-drug use kept the number of nonelderly Americans spending high shares of their income on healthcare flat during the recent recession, according to a health researcher.
Peter Cunningham, a senior fellow at the Center for Studying Health System Change, authored a study published Wednesday in Health Affairs that found the percentage of Americans younger than 65 spending more than 10% of their income on healthcare stayed at about 19% of the population from 2006 to 2009. That stabilization came after the share of healthcare high-spenders jumped from about 14% over the preceding five years.
The recession years' drop in average incomes was matched by a fall in out-of-pocket spending on healthcare.
Cunningham examined several possible causes for the drop in healthcare spending and concluded that decreased drug costs resulting from the expanded use of generics accounted for "virtually all" of the reduced out-of-pocket health spending from 2006 to 2009.
"Almost all of the decrease in out-of-pocket spending for services can be attributed to decreases in that spending for prescription drugs, which accounted for more than one-quarter of all out-of-pocket spending on services in 2009," Cunningham wrote.
Data indicated that generic-drug use took off in this period for a variety of reasons, including the loss of patent exclusivity for several blockbuster drugs and more public and private payers requiring the use of generics.