GoodRx Report Reveals Striking Gender Divide in Prescription Medication Spending
Women Spent $8.8 Billion More than Men in 2024, with Women Ages 18-44 Facing the Steepest Out-of-Pocket Cost Disparity
GoodRx (NASDAQ:GDRX), the leading platform for medication savings in the U.S., today released a new report, The Prescription Drug Gender Divide, detailing how women shoulder a significantly greater out-of-pocket cost burden than men. The data shows that in 2024, women spent $8.8 billion – or 30% – more than men on out-of-pocket prescription costs. Combined with the common responsibilities of managing a career, family planning, and caregiving, women are left frustrated with the financial pressure required to maintain their health.
Though the "pink tax" is often thought about as higher prices on consumer goods, the research suggests that it also manifests itself in the hidden costs of healthcare. Higher healthcare utilization, higher rates of chronic conditions, and spending on female-specific conditions like women's fertility and menopause contribute to this imbalance. Women are filling more prescriptions than men, but forgoing treatment isn't more cost effective in the long run, either. If left untreated, many of the conditions women are proactively managing can be debilitating, interrupting their lives and work, and necessitating more serious and expensive medical interventions down the line.
Highlights from the new report include:
- Women spent almost $40 billion in total out-of-pocket prescription costs in 2024: Women spent 30% more out-of-pocket than men last year, a trend that has remained consistent over recent years.
- Out-of-pocket spending on female-specific conditions exceeded $1.5 billion in 2024: Menopause treatments, for example, cost an average of $16.95 per prescription. Conditions that demand specialized treatments, like endometriosis and morning sickness, require an even more substantial spend ($29.38 and $37.87 per prescription, respectively).
- The gender gap is largest for women ages 18 to 44: Women ages 18 to 44 spend up to 64% more out-of-pocket on medications than men of the same age group. As they age, the gap gets smaller. Women ages 45 to 64 spent 35.3% more than men in 2024, and women over 65 spent 16.5% more.
- Women significantly outspend men on mental health treatments. Women spend 113% more out-of-pocket on depression medications and 103% more on anxiety treatments than men. These disparities are likely driven by both higher prescription fill rates and systemic factors, such as differences in how mental health conditions are diagnosed and treated between genders.
"Though we typically think of the ‘pink tax' as an upcharge on goods and services, these latest findings illustrate how the spending gap between men and women transcends grocery store shelves, with women paying a premium just to maintain their health," says Tori Marsh, MPH, Director of Research at GoodRx. "This gender inequality leaves women with a greater financial burden, potentially requiring women to choose between their own health and other recurring expenses. This can lead to more serious health issues and create extra strain–not just on individuals–but on the healthcare system as a whole."
To address the gender gap, GoodRx is helping women save time and money when filling their medications at more than 70,000 pharmacies nationwide. This includes offering savings on medications for female-specific conditions, like birth control, menopause treatments, and fertility medications, as well as other conditions that disproportionately affect women. These savings include:
- Fertility Treatments: Discounts of up to 43% on fertility treatments based on the best available GoodRx price, including savings on both brand-name and generic medications used in IVF
- Menopause Hormone Therapies: Low cash prices for menopause hormone therapies by Pfizer in the range of $99-$249
- Birth Control: A seamless ecommerce option for purchasing Opill, the first over-the-counter daily birth control pill, and significant discounts on prescription birth control
- Mental Health and Autoimmune Medications: Low cash prices for critical medications like Pristiq, Cytomel and Synthroid
- Common Heart Health Medications: 30 of the most common heart health medications are available on GoodRx for under $30
"Affordable healthcare doesn't just support better health and quality of life for women, but has a positive ripple effect on our families, communities and healthcare system," said Dorothy Gemmell, Chief Commercial Officer at GoodRx. "At GoodRx, we are working closely with healthcare's key stakeholders–from pharmaceutical companies to retail pharmacies–to help women at all stages of life access lower prices on essential medications."
This research was debuted at SXSW 2025 during a GoodRx-moderated session titled "The Hidden Pink Tax Fueling High Healthcare Costs for Women," which included an all-women panel, with participants representing pharmacies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and telehealth platforms.
The full Prescription Drug Gender Divide report is available from GoodRx Research, here.
About GoodRx
GoodRx is the leading platform for medication savings in the U.S., used by nearly 30 million consumers and over one million healthcare professionals annually. Uniquely situated at the center of the healthcare ecosystem, GoodRx connects consumers, healthcare professionals, payers, PBMs, pharma manufacturers, and retail pharmacies to make saving on medications easier. By reducing friction and inefficiencies, GoodRx helps consumers save time and money when filling prescriptions so they can get the care they deserve. Since 2011, GoodRx has helped Americans save over $85 billion on the cost of their medications.
GoodRx periodically posts information that may be important to investors on its investor relations website at https://investors.goodrx.com. We intend to use our website as a means of disclosing material nonpublic information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, investors and potential investors are encouraged to consult GoodRx's website regularly for important information, in addition to following GoodRx's press releases, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and public conference calls and webcasts. The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, GoodRx's website is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this press release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding anticipated consumer savings and accessibility; and the objectives and potential benefits and value of the GoodRx research and savings. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, risks relating to our ability to achieve broad market education and change consumer purchasing habits; changes in medication pricing and pricing structures; our reliance on a limited number of industry participants; and the important factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and our other filings with the SEC. Any such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, projections and estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250310126491/en/
Press Contact
GoodRx
[email protected]