Drug prices highest in poorest neighborhoods

By Anne Harding

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a study conducted in Florida, researchers found that drugstores in the poorest areas charge more, on average, for four widely used prescription medications than do pharmacies in wealthier neighborhoods.

Fortunately for patients who are uninsured but able to shop around, every ZIP code does include pharmacies that charge less for these drugs, the study team found.

"If it's a medication you're going to be on for a while it's probably worth making a few phone calls," Dr. Walid F. Gellad of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and RAND Corporation told Reuters Health. Gellad conducted the research while at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Florida pharmacies that fill prescriptions for Medicaid patients are required by law to post their prices for the 100 most commonly used medications on a web site, MyFloridarx.com.

Using this web site, Gellad and colleagues looked at data for November 2006 on the ulcer drug Nexium, the asthma drug Advair, the heart drug Plavix, and the antibiotic azithromycin, specifically the "Z-Pak" formulation. They then categorized all of Florida's 627 ZIP codes into four groups based on median income.

Across the board, the researchers found, the four drugs were priced highest in the poorest ZIP codes, averaging 9 percent more than the average for the state.

Independent pharmacies charged an average of 15 percent more for each of the drugs than the statewide average, but there was little geographic variation in the prices chain drugstores charged.

Drug stores in ZIP codes with median incomes below $20,000, for example, charged $176 for a month's supply of Nexium, $213 for Advair, $163 for Plavix, and $55 for a Z-Pak, compared to $160, $198, $149, and $50, respectively, at pharmacies in ZIP codes where median income was greater than $60,000.