Thanks to greater use of generic drugs, the financial burden of prescription costs has become less of an issue for families in the United States, according to a new study by the RAND Corporation.

The study shows that the number of Americans living in a family that spent more than 10 percent of its income out of pocket on prescription drugs decreased from 2003 to 2008. The decrease in costs to families is in contrast to the preceding five-year period, from 1999 to 2003, when drug costs rose year after year and were a financial burden for an increasing number of families.

The study, released Wednesday afternoon, is published in the February issue of Health Affairs, an academic journal.

The study examined people under the age of 65, which is generally when people obtain drug coverage under the Medicare health insurance program for the elderly. Researchers studied uninsured Americans as well as those with public and private insurance, defining families with a “high financial burden” as those that spent more than 10 percent of their income on out-of-pocket costs for drugs.

The number of Americans with this financial burden rose to 4.3 percent of the United States population, or 10.8 million people, in 2003, when researchers said the burden of drug costs peaked. This compares with 2.9 percent of the population, or 7.1 million people, in the same situation in 1999.

Since 2003, the percentage of people living with a high cost burden fell to 3.1 percent of the population, or 8.3 million people, in 2008, the study showed.

“If prescription spending had not decreased, we’d be talking about an even higher overall burden for health care costs,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Walid Gellad, who is a RAND researcher and an internist at the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System. “There are still more than eight million people living in families with a high burden and drug prices are going up, but more people are being helped by taking cheaper drugs.” Read more…