OBJECTIVES: To explore relationship between sociodemographic, personal characteristics and out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) prescription medications.  A secondary objective was to measure the average OOPE for different therapeutic classes of medications namely biologics, disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID), corticosteroids and analgesics.  METHODS: From a retrospective analysis of Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data during 2009 – 2012, 1090 adults with RA were identified. Total OOPE was calculated by adding up the OOPE for each prescription corresponding to an individual. The predictors included age, race, gender, insurance status, number of comorbid conditions, region, area of living, annual family income. Logistic regression and generalized linear model (GLM) were used for analysis.  Mean OOPE for therapeutic classes was estimated using nonparametric percentiles from 1,000 cluster bootstrap estimates. RESULTS: Mean OOPE was $273.99 (95% CI = 197.07, 364.75). The OOPE was less for privately insured (0.33, 95% CI = 0.22, 0.48) and publicly insured (0.18, 95% CI = 0.12, 0.26) compared to uninsured and for poor (0.46, 95% CI = 0.33, 0.63) and low income group (0.58, 95% CI = 0.41, 0.82) compared to high income group. The mean OOPE decreased with age (0.98, 95% CI = 0.97, 0.99) and was less (0.74, 95% CI = 0.59, 0.94) for male compared to female and increased with comorbidity (1.16, 95% CI = 1.07, 1.26). The average OOPE for biologics ($2,556.73) was highest followed by DMARDs ($89.37). The average OOPE were $27.97, $52.36, and $72.51 for corticosteroids, NSAID and narcotic analgesics respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Age, gender, race, income category, insurance status and comorbidity status significantly impacted OOPE. Higher OOPE among uninsured, female, certain income categories and patients with various comorbidities could adversely affect RA therapy. Usage of expensive biologics needs to be monitored to reduce prescription related cost-sharing among RA patients.