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While the overall situation is certainly better for privately insured children as compared to the other U.S citizens, these children still have to shell out huge sums of cash for prescription drugs despite the steadily increasing cost of drugs, off late.

According to a team of researchers at the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) in Washington who published the findings in a “prescription drug access” paper, a sample of about 18,000 and 17,000 Americans were included in this research.

According to Kaiseredu.org, the retail prices for prescription drugs have increased at the rate of 3.6% annually between the years 2000 – 2009. This was, it helps to note, more than the average inflation during that period which was just 2.5%.

The prohibitive costs of drugs are unlikely to dissolve anytime soon since the government doesn’t involve itself in negotiating with drug manufacturers to allow for a free-market or a market-based approach. Some lobbyists also argue that government intervention could lead to untoward effects and it will finally affect patients since drug manufacturers will see no incentive to invest in research and development if profits are compromised for them.

In May 2007, thanks to Walmart’s aggressive pricing, many prescription drugs were being sold for $4 each. This program was extended until 2007 and as a result the prices held at $4, which led to the rate of participants with unmet prescription needs also held at a steady 13%.

For senior citizens, the rate of participants unable to afford their prescription drugs climbed to 8.4% from 8.2% — a marginal increase, so to speak. Yet, got those below the age of 65% the rate jumped to 31% from 27% during the same time.

Roughly 26% of insured people – no matter what degree of health they find themselves in – report that they find costs of prescription drugs unaffordable in 2010. The rate for the same in 2007 was just 23%.

Medicaid policies do provide coverage for prescription drugs. The amount and types of coverage differ according to state policies, co-pay terms and conditions, and not all prescription drugs are covered. There’s also a limit on the number of prescription drugs that can be filled.

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