Drug spending in the U.S. tripled between 1997 and 2007, slowed down until about 2013, then started rising again. Americans now pay substantially more for their drugs than their counterparts in other wealthy nations.
The main reason for high drug prices is that the U.S. lacks the policies to limit them that are found in many other countries, wrote Austin Frakt, adjunct associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in a November 12, 2018 New York Times article.
Frakt cited a number of factors involved in high U.S. drug prices, including the record number of new drugs that hit the market in the late 1990s, increased drug advertising to physicians and consumers, expanded insurance coverage for drugs, and the recent availability of expensive specialty drugs for hepatitis C, cystic fibrosis and other conditions.
Read the New York Times article: Something Happened to U.S. Drug Costs in the 1990s