Prescription drug prices have been on a steady climb
April 29, 2025
Key takeaways:
- Prescription drug prices have risen faster than many other goods and services in recent years.
- Tariffs on prescription drugs, which Trump has threatened, wouldmake them even more expensive.
- Health insurance costs would also rise under tariffs on prescription drugs.
Prescription drug prices have outpaced inflation and the threat of tariffs would send their costs even higher.
Prices for prescription drugs have risen 39% since 2014, outpacing all other key consumer goods and services that grew by 37%, according to an analysis by drug-shopping website GoodRx, which reviewed data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Prescription drugs are amongexpensesthat have grown in price faster than overall inflation, including eggs, tobacco, rent, meat, poultry and fish.
Prescription drug prices grew more rapidly from 2014 to 2017, but their price increaseshave been steadier at around 3% to 4% since then, GoodRx said.
President Donald Trump threatened a 25% tariff on pharmaceutical goods in early April and has started probes into the U.S.’s reliance on imported drugs, citing national security concerns.
Tariffs, which are taxes that companies pay on imported goods, would especially hit the U.S.’simports of prescription drugs from European countriesand likely drive up costs for patients.
A 25% tariff on prescription drugs would raise U.S. drug costs by nearly $51 billion a year and boost prices by as much as 13%, according to a report from consultancy Ernst & Young,acquired by Reuters.
The U.S. imported $203 billion of prescription drugs in 2023, with 73% coming from Europe, according to the report, which was paid for byU.S.’s biggest pharmaceutical lobbyist,Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
Higher prescription drug prices from tariffs would also raise health insurance costs.
For example, a $25,000 per year family plan would increase by $600 if Trump’s proposed tariffs on prescription drugs happen,Josh Bivens, chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute, told The Hill.
Not a total game-changer, but, given how expensive premiums already are, this is not small money,” Bivens said.
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