popular prescription drugs kept soaring. i trust my heart to lipitor. reporter: aarp looked at the 217 brand name drugs used most by older americans. the average retail cost of those medications rose 8.3% in 2009. this while overall consumer prices actually fell. something out of whack here about no increases in the rest of the economy, and very substantial increases with pharmaceuticals. reporter: when they look back over five years the price of those prescription drugs went up more than 41%. that means someone who takes three brand name drugs is paying an average of $1,900 more each year for their medicine. surging prescription prices are especially hard on elderly americans on fixed incomes. many of whom are on the medicare prescription drug plan which leaves them uncovered after they spend $2,800 on medications in a single year. they bear the full cost out of pocket when they reach that
a stay so this can t happen imminently right now while they file that appeal. in the meantime, what s going to happen in the senate? you know last week or a couple of weeks ago, the house voted to repeal health care reform. well, the senate, of course, still controlled by the democrats so that probably would file. harry reid in charge of the senate for the democrats said this. this lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt by those who want to raise taxes on small businesses, increase prescription prices for seniors and allow insurance companies to once again deny sick children medical care. health care reform is the law of the land and now that americans see its benefits, a majority of them oppose republicans dangerous plans to repeal a law that puts them in charge of their own health plan. all 47 said they would support the repeal and senator kyle was on record as saying he expects the vote to happen this week. it still seems unlikely they re going to convince 10 democrats to go along