Prescription Drug Affordability: AARP Survey of Hispanic New Yorkers

How Hispanic residents in the New York City metropolitan area are being affected by the costs of prescription drugs and their opinions about state legislation to address affordability is examined in this survey of 800 age 18+ individuals identifying themselves as Hispanic or Latino.

Of those surveyed…

• 90 percent say it is important for New York to provide access to information about the safety and effectiveness of prescription drugs
  
  
• 88 percent support legislation that would allow the state to establish a bulk purchasing program for prescription drugs
  
  
• 82 percent support the state adopting a preferred drug list
  
  
• 73 percent support legislation that would require drug manufacturers to report how much they spend on marketing

Nearly all surveyed want AARP New York to advocate making medications more affordable especially for those without prescription drug coverage. In response, AARP New York has designated prescription drug affordability as a legislative priority in 2006.

The telephone survey was conducted from November 9th through November 27th, 2005 by Opinion Access, Corp. Further information about the study may be obtained by contacting Katherine Bridges of AARP Knowledge Management at 202-434-6329. (15 pages)