Drug prices 'just keep going up, and going up higher than inflation,' Dalmer Hoskins, AARP Public Policy Institute managing director, said at a news conference.
The nation`s largest senior advocacy organization released the results of its latest quarterly drug price report, which found that the prices of drugs like Pfizer`s Celebrex and Merck`s Fosamax have far outpaced the 3.
8 percent rate of general inflation over the past 12 months.
The prices of some popular drugs even further outstripped inflation, according to the report. The price of Aventis` sleep aid Ambien increased by more than 13 percent in the first six months of 2006, and Boehringer Ingelheim`s Combivent saw a 12-percent increase.
An additional 16 drugs rose in price between 7.6 percent and 10 percent.
The findings were based on the wholesale acquisition cost of the drugs, which is the amount that drug makers charge wholesalers for their products.
The index likely somewhat overstates the price increases because it does not measure the retail costs that consumers actually pay at pharmacies, the report acknowledged. Many drug manufacturers offer substantial discounts that are not published and thus not included in the data.
However, after a record increase last quarter, it is unlikely that increases in wholesale drug prices are not being passed on to consumers, said David Certner, AARP legislative counsel and policy director.
Based on the wholesale prices in the report, the average American over age 50, who takes four medications for chronic conditions, would have paid $283 more for their drugs over the last quarter if they were forced to pay for everything out-of-pocket.
And those price increases could translate into concerned voters in the midterm congressional elections in November, Hoskins said. 'It`s no wonder why older Americans are concerned by these issues and their votes are going to be affected by it.
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Almost 65 percent of Americans 42 and older consider paying for prescription drugs to be either a major or minor financial problem, according to a poll of 1,502 respondents released at the same time as the AARP drug-price survey.
Concerns about the cost of prescription drugs must, however, compete with other voting issued like gas prices and the war in Iraq. In addition, many seniors are now shielded -- at least somewhat -- from the price increases because they are covered by the Medicare Part D prescription-drug benefit.
To nudge seniors along, AARP said it is launching a 'substantial' television and print advertising campaign telling seniors 'don`t vote ...
until you know where each candidate stands on the important issues.'
The ads will encourage viewers to go to the newly launched dontvote.com Web site, where they will have access to a voter guide where candidates describe their positions on Social Security, importing drugs from Canada and other issues affecting seniors.
A more targeted ad campaign will run in the districts of lawmakers who might sign on to a bill sponsored by Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.
, and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, that would allow the legal importation of lower-cost drugs from foreign countries.
The group is also undertaking a grassroots effort to inform voters and encourage them to ask candidates difficult questions at rallies and town-hall meetings, David Sloane, senior managing director of government relations and advocacy, told United Press International.
'We`re pretty aggressive about getting people to get out there,' he said.
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