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Drug Prices Top Americans' List Of Health Care Concerns

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans from across the political spectrum are worried about the cost of prescription drugs for serious diseases, following weeks of news coverage about companies hiking prices for critical medicines.

A poll released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation shows that keeping drugs for cancer, hepatitis, HIV and other conditions affordable is the top health priority for Democrats, Republicans and independents. Overall, 77 percent of those surveyed said the issue was their No. 1 health concern, reflecting recent outrage over drug pricing that has spilled over into the presidential campaign.

Condemnation by patients, doctors and insurers has been mounting for several years, then escalated last month over news that Turing Pharmaceuticals and a handful of other drugmakers have been hiking prices of old drugs many times over their prior cost.

(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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