Most Americans now take medications to treat chronic health conditions

Americans have tipped the scale in terms of medicines consumption. For the first time, a majority of the insured population is being treated for a chronic medical condition, which is raising serious concerns about the health of the nation.

Research released by leading pharmacy benefit management firm Medco Health Solutions, shows that, in 2007, 51% of insured American people were taking prescription drugs to treat at least one chronic health problem. Not only is it now a majority, but many of these patients are on multiple medications. According to the analysis, one fifth of the population used three or more of these chronic drug treatments last year.

"It appears that we have now reached the tipping point where treating chronic diseases and conditions is more common than not," said Robert Epstein, Medco's chief medical officer. "This data does paint a pretty unhealthy picture of America. But there is a silver lining; it does show that people are receiving treatment which can prevent more serious health problems down the road," Dr Epstein added.