Unfilled Prescriptions by Economic Status

Earlier this year I posted on Prescription Abandonment by People with Private Health Insurance, so this graph from MMWR caught my attention because it represents unfilled prescriptions by economic status. For a household of two, mother and child for example, the 2010 poverty threshold is an annual income of $15,030. Below that level, about 20% of prescriptions went unfilled. An annual income of $15,030 to $30,060 in 2010 resulted in 17% unfilled prescriptions, $30,060 to $60,120 resulted in 10%, and greater than $60,120 resulted in 3%.

The 3% level of unfilled prescriptions may represent some sort of baseline. In 2010, 3% of generic drug prescriptions were abandoned by people with health insurance.

US Census Bureau Poverty Thresholds

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports 60(43):1495, 2011