CNN (5/14, Kounang) “The Chart” blog reported that about 50 percent of all Americans “take at least one prescription drug each month,” while 10 percent take “more than four,” citing a report from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. The annual report, titled “Health, United States, 2013” included a special section on prescription drugs this year. It noted, for instance, that Americans spend “a lot on prescription drugs. In 2011, Americans spent $263 billion on prescription drugs, which accounts for 9.7% of all national health expenditures (up from 5.6% in 1990).”
MSNBC (5/15) reported that heart medications “topped the list of most common prescription drugs.” The article noted that cardiovascular medication for treating high blood pressure, heart disease or kidney disease, “along with drugs to target cholesterol saw the highest usage reported in the three-year span.”
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— “50% of Americans take prescription drugs,” Nadia Kounang, CNN, May 14, 2014.