Big drug costs for small patients with rare diseases, study finds

(Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan) Only about one in every 170 children take them. But "orphan drugs" accounted for 1 in every 15 private insurance dollars spent on children's health care in the United States in 2018, according to a new study. That's up 65% from just five years before. And even though insurance companies pay much of the cost of high-priced orphan drugs that treat rare childhood diseases, families' share of the cost has risen rapidly.