http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/HealthPolicy/59898?xid=fb_o_

Government intervention helped fuel the steep rise in prescription drug costs by granting monopolies to drug manufacturers and by mandating coverage in government-funded healthcare programs, authors of a review concluded.
In the U.S., per-capita spending on prescription drugs reached $858 in 2013, more than double the average for 19 other industrialized nations. Prescription spending accounted for 17% of the total cost of personal healthcare services.

The cost and complexity of drug development have contributed to the higher prices. However, the federal government essentially blocked the two most effective means of controlling prescription costs by delaying access to generics and placing constraints on government agencies’ ability to negotiate prices with drug manufacturers, Aaron S. Kesselheim, MD, JD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and co-authors wrote in the Aug. 23/30 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.