Drugs are expensive, but they are a small part of the medical cost problem

An article in today's Wall Street Journal surprised me.  ("How Do We Deal With Rising Drug Costs?", p. R4) We are all aware of the astonishing costs of some drugs -- for example, biologics. We hear about people whose drug costs are $50,000/year or more.  (Whether paid by the insurance company or not.)

If fact, however, drug costs are only about 10% of health spending, and while drug costs are rising rapidly, so is over-all health spending.  It's a much bigger problem than just drug costs.