More than one-quarter of Americans struggle to afford medication — why some pay more and how you could save hundreds

Prescription drugs are expensive, and successful galore cases retired of scope for Americans.

According to a 2025 survey published by GoodRx, a level that tracks medicine cause prices, 27% of Americans near a medicine unfilled due to the fact that of the precocious outgo (1).

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“This uncovering is alarming fixed that nonadherence, oregon not taking a medicine arsenic prescribed, tin worsen chronic conditions,” GoodRx stated successful its findings. High costs tin unit radical “to marque hard choices betwixt prioritizing their wellness and managing different indispensable expenses,” starring to accrued costs successful the agelong run.

It’s a occupation that affects some the insured and uninsured.

One retired of 5 Americans (20%) has astatine slightest 1 cause their security doesn’t cover, according to the GoodRx survey. Often erstwhile security doesn’t screen a drug, patients are connected the hook for the afloat price, which tin pb to fiscal strain and gaps successful treatment. As for the terms paid, connected average, 23% of Americans who aren’t covered by Medicaid walk much than $50 per period retired of pouch connected their prescriptions.

The benignant of security program you person is 1 determinant of however overmuch you’ll wage for drugs. Those with a wellness speech program oregon backstage program wage much than those connected Medicare, Medicaid oregon Tricare, per the survey.

It besides matters if your security is simply a copay program oregon coinsurance plan. A copay stipulates that you wage a level dollar magnitude erstwhile you wage for your prescription, portion coinsurance means you wage a percent of the cost. If the cause is expensive, coinsurance means you could extremity up paying a ample chunk of it retired of pocket.

And if you person nary coverage, your options are adjacent much limited. And that’s not an insignificant fig of people: astir 8% of Americans are uninsured, according to KFF (2).

One different origin that could summation however overmuch you wage for medicine is thing called formulary tiers. The formulary is simply a database of drugs covered by your security plan. The medications connected this database tin beryllium categorized into tiers that find however overmuch you wage retired of pocket. For example, lower-tier drugs mostly person the lowest copays.