关键词：卫生保健支出;皮肤;皮肤病;药物;平民人口管控
摘 要：Rising health care costs in general and prescribed medicine costs in particular continue to be a concern for U.S. policymakers and consumers of care. Breaking down total prescription drug costs into therapeutic classes and subclasses provides decision makers and the public with an understanding of the costs and extent to which specific therapeutic classes and subclasses of drugs are contributing to the upturn in total costs. This Brief provides trends for one therapeutic subclass of prescribed drugs--dermatological agents. This Brief presents trends in utilization and expenditures for outpatient prescription dermatological agents for the years 1999 and 2008. The estimates are for the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population and are derived from the 1999 and 2008 Household Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS-HC).