Insurance spending on prescriptions expected to increase

A new report from PwC’s Health Research Institute predicts that insurance companies will be spending more to pay for prescription drugs starting next year, from around 3% to almost 6% by 2027. Here’s more forecasts on medical spending from the report:

• Generics: Almost half of the estimated sales from the top 100 brand-name drugs won’t be affected by generic competition for another three years.
• Specialty drugs: Spending on specialty drugs — such as biologics or rare disease treatments — has already been growing over the past five years, but by 2020 these drugs may make up more than half of all U.S. drug spending.
• Chronic disease: 85% of all employer-provided insurance spending is on chronic conditions, and obesity and diabetes will be the two top conditions that will account for spending in 2020.