Prescription drug spending soarsTRENTON, N.J. — U.S. spending on prescription drugs soared last year, driven up primarily by costly breakthrough medicines, manufacturer price hikes and a surge from millions of people newly insured due to the Affordable Care Act.Spending rose 13 percent, the biggest jump since 2001, to a total of $374 billion, according to a report released Tuesday by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics. After accounting for population growth and inflation, the increase equaled 10 percent.A record 4.3 billion prescriptions were filled in 2014, many of them for inexpensive generic pills going to patients now insured through Medicaid in states that expanded eligibility for the government health program for the poor and disabled. The number of prescriptions covered by Medicaid rose by nearly 17 percent, and that increase accounted for 70 percent of growth in the number of prescriptions filled at retail pharmacies.

Fast food workers hold more rallies for wagesWASHINGTON — Heartened by growing support for their cause and recent pay hikes by large corporate employers, America’s low-wage workers will continue their fight for higher pay today with protests, rallies and one-day walkouts scheduled in more than 200 cities.The actions are expected to attract thousands of participants in what organizers are calling the “most widespread mobilization ever by U.S. workers seeking higher pay.”Fast food cooks and cashiers are expected to strike in 230 cities.