Nearly 90 percent of Americans expressed concern about drugmakers using the pandemic as an opportunity to increase prices, according to a new survey from Gallup and policy research organization West Health.
Respondents expressed worry that drugmakers would capitalize on the high-stakes race to find COVID-19 treatments by raising drug prices. Of the survey's 1,016 adult respondents, 55 percent reported feeling very concerned about the price surges and 33 percent reported feeling somewhat concerned.
The results saw no discrepancies in terms of gender, race or income level, but opinions did vary with political affiliations. Sixty-six percent of Democrats reported feeling very concerned about drug price hikes, while the percentages for independents and Republicans were 52 and 49 respectively.
"If you just look at the track record of the pharmaceutical companies, prices tend to increase, not decrease, and I think people are still thinking about that. It’s the No. 1 or two issue on voter minds," said Tim Lask, West Health's executive vice president and chief strategy officer.