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Urban vs. Rural Prescription Costs: How Geography Shapes Spending

GoodRx data reveal rural residents use more generics while urban patients face distinct treatment challenges, highlighting disparities in costs and access for chronic disease medications.

  • GoodRx found that where people live influences prescription spending, and residents in urban areas versus rural areas don't always face wide-scale gaps in out-of-pocket costs.
  • Rural areas tend to rely more on older generics and traditional treatments, and analysts say multiple factors explain why rural residents may fill fewer brand drugs than urban residents.
  • Using a drug-level analysis, GoodRx estimated condition-level spending by aggregating drug-level expenditures and excluded some conditions with lower fill volumes across nine conditions.
  • Evidence shows geographic disparities in costs for people with chronic conditions, and urban residents face challenges like asthma linked to environmental pollutants and gentrification.
  • For some conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease and hemorrhoids, treatment relies on generics widely used across areas, while people with leukemia often receive oral antimetabolites in maintenance therapy.
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Boston 25 News broke the news in Boston, United States on Thursday, October 16, 2025.
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