Cost-related Medication Non-adherence Among US Adults: Unveiling Insights from NCHS Data Brief

Rising out-of-pocket costs on prescription medications may limit patients' access to medications and lead them to not take them as prescribed by their clinician to save money. A new data brief from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) shows that in 2021, 8.2% of US adults who took prescription medication in the past 12 months reported not taking it as prescribed in order to reduce costs. Authors of the NCHS brief used data from the 2021 National Health Interview Survey to examine the characteristics of adults aged 18–64 years who took prescription medication in the past 12 months and did not take medication as prescribed due to cost. Cost-saving measures included skipping doses, taking less medication than was prescribed, or delaying filling a prescription.

A breakdown of the findings by age, sex, race, health status, family income, health insurance coverage, and more in the slides below.