Prescription Drugs

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Drugstore operator Walgreen will offer free clinic visits to the unemployed and uninsured for the rest of the year, providing tests and routine treatment for minor ailments through its walk-in clinics — though patients will still pay for precriptions.

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One in seven Americans under age 65 went without prescribed medicines in 2007 as drug costs spiraled upward in the United States, a nonprofit research group said on Thursday.

National health spending grew in 2007 at the lowest rate in nine years, mainly because prescription drug spending increased at the slowest pace since 1963.

DUBLIN, Ind., Dec. 29 -- Dolly Sweet, 77, has battled cancer more than once. She's a fighter. But when her doctor recently prescribed a medication that cost $35,000 a year, she felt she had no choice.

The government is paying millions for risky medications that have never been reviewed for safety and effectiveness but are still covered under Medicaid, an Associated Press analysis of federal data has found. As a result, taxpayers have shelled out at least $200 million since 2004 for such drugs.

The nation's largest pharmaceutical lobbying group is preparing a multimillion-dollar campaign to tout free-market health care and undercut an expected push by the Obama administration for price controls of prescription drugs.