Doctors will pull out their prescription pads 3 billion times next year and send every man, woman and child in the country to the drugstore 11 times.

In 2001, according the National Institute for Health Care Management, Americans spent $1.54 billion on prescription medications, 11 percent more than in 2000. That works out to $430 worth of prescriptions for every American.

This year, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services expect total prescription drug spending to hit $182.1 billion, and then grow to $204.7 billion in 2004.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that between 2003 and 2014, Americans -- and mainly their health care plans and Medicare/Medicaid -- will spend $4.7 trillion on prescription medications.

Prescription drugs account for 14 cents of every health care dollar, and about 28 percent of the yearly increase in health care costs, said Bill Hensley, communications director for the Washington, D.C.-based BlueCross BlueShield Association.

Rising drug costs undermine the affordability of health care plans and inflate employer costs, said Hensley.

HMOs and health insurers pay 47 percent of all prescription medication costs, according to a study by lobbying group Public Citizen.

Dr. William Cromie, president and CEO of Capital District Physicians' Health Plan in Albany, N.Y., emphasizes that health plans simply are brokers for the employers who really pay the medical bills of plan members. Higher costs get passed on.

Health plans shelled out $66.6 billion in prescription payments in 2001. For 2003, the federal government projects health plan payments of $88.5 billion for prescription medications, while in 2004, those payments will top $100 billion.

The right drugs at the right time can keep people healthy and hold down health care costs, Hensley said. Out-of-control price spirals undercut that advantage.