Skyrocketing Medication Prices Fueling Rising Health Care Costs

The past two years have revealed the best and worst of the pharmaceutical industry.

Superb medications for hepatitis C have emerged, curing more than 90 percent of those who take the drugs. Cancer drugs continue to improve and prolong life. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year approved more than 40 new drugs, the most since 1996.

But some of the medications have attracted attention because of their whopping prices. Insurers say high-priced drugs are fueling at least some of the rise in health care costs. And blatant examples of companies sharply increasing prices over the past few years have proven to be public relations nightmares for the industry and brought scrutiny from Congress.

Dr. Robert Langdon, oncologist with Nebraska Cancer Specialists located at Methodist Estabrook Cancer Center, was among those health care providers featured in this Omaha World-Herald report on the high costs of medications.