An Insight Into Senior Spending on Prescription Drugs Every 8.4 seconds another baby boomer turns 50. From 1990 to 2020, the elderly population is expected to increase to 54 million
persons (US Census Report) At current rates of growth, there will soon be more grandparents than youth, notes the website of SMPG (Senior Publishers Media Group)
SPMG (Senior Publishers Media
Group), recently audited and conducted a readership survey of its top 80 newspapers nationwide, gaining insight into demographics, spending patterns and health care issues for mature audiences.
The study underscored the impact of prescription drug costs on Seniors nationwide. Out-of-pocket prescription drug costs averaged $256 per senior, a total of 1.5 billion dollars per month for the 5.8
million SPMG readership. Average annual out-of-pocket RX expense for these seniors was $3069, a total of 17.8 billion dollars.
The report found that seniors age 55 and older spend more on health
care and prescription drugs than any age group yet are the least likely of all insured groups to have prescription drug coverage. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the average senior is
expected to use over $2,000 worth of prescription drugs this year; nearly 10% will use more than $5,000.
Second only to health insurance premiums, prescription drug expenses are the single
highest out-of-pocket health care expense for Americans. Prescription drug expenses cost as much as physician care, vision care and medical supplies combined.
- Over half of these seniors take
two to six prescription drugs, regularly spending $250 to $550 out-of-pocket each month. Their average annual expense of $3069 per year is more than 50% higher than the national senior average.
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More than 70% buy products and services from ads seen in their local senior newspaper, the majority seek health care information in these publications' advertisements and articles.
The study
finds that the monthly senior prescription expense breakdown looks like this:
- 36% spend $0-$100
- 9% spend $100-$250
- 29% spend $250-400
- 22% spend $400-$550
- 4% spend $550+
Health topics of greatest interest to the SPMG readers were: nutrition and diet (61%), pain management (58%), arthritis (55%), heart health (54%), diabetes (37%), clinical trials (28%) and
Alzheimer's disease (24%).
"Who is the 50-+ audience and what is the senior lifestyle? This study answers the question," said SPMG Vice President Trevor Hansen. "For demographers, advertisers and
media buyers, it provides remarkable insight into the senior audience nationwide.
You can find out more here and here.