STUDY SAYS DRUG PRICE HIKES DOUBLE THE PAIN

Paying for prescription drugs may be more painful than the ailments they treat. The average price for a year’s supply of prescription drugs more than doubled in a seven-year span from 2006 to 2013, according to AARP, an advocacy group for retirees and older Americans. Blaming the hikes on drugmakers, the AARP’s latest RxPrice Watch report found that the average annual cost of more than 600 widely used drugs by seniors jumped to $11,341 in 2013, up from $5,571 in 2006, the Associated Press reported. “Our concern with the prices we’re seeing is that the overall trend is really accelerating,” said Leigh Purvis, head of health services research in AARP’s Public Policy Institute.