KFF research has consistently found prescription drug costs to be an important health policy area of public interest and concern. Our polls find that most people take at least one prescription drug and most see their benefits to society, yet majorities see these drugs as too expensive and three in ten struggle to afford their medicines. The public has historically supported many different approaches to lowering prescription drug costs, including allowing Medicare to negotiate prices, a core component of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed in 2022. However, more than two years after passage of the IRA, majorities of the public remain unaware of the drug pricing provisions that were part of the law.

Prescription drugs touch the lives of most people in the U.S. in some way. About six in ten adults say they are currently taking at least one prescription drug, and a quarter say they currently take four or more prescription medications. While about two-thirds (65%) of adults overall say it is very or somewhat easy to afford their
prescription drug costs,¹ affordability is a bigger issue for those who are currently taking four or more prescription medicines. Nearly four in ten (37%) of those taking four or more prescription drugs say they have difficulty affording their prescriptions, compared with one in five (18%) adults who currently take three or fewer prescription medications. Adults with an annual household income of less than $40,000 are also more likely than adults with higher incomes to report difficulty affording their prescription medications.

1. https://www.kff.org/health-costs/poll-finding/kff-health-tracking-poll-july-2023-
   the-publics-views-of-new-prescription-weight-loss-drugs-and-prescription-drug-costs/ ↩︎