Healthcare costs prevent millions from filling prescriptions

Nearly 40 million U.S. adults decided not to fill a prescription medication from a doctor in 2008 because of the cost, according to a new study by Manhattan Research, a pharmaceutical and healthcare market research firm. The study found that women and patients with neurological and mental health conditions were the most likely to give up their medication due to cost. Adult ADHD, chronic pain, and depression were among the 10 condition groups most affected by drug costs. 

Studies show that doctors are often unaware of drug costs and don't ask patients whether cost is an issue. If you're struggling to keep your drug costs under control, raise your concerns with your doctor. Ask whether a less expensive generic drug would do just as well.

Lowering costs by splitting pills or getting them by mail order might also be an option. And many brand-name drugs are available free of cost to low-income people without insurance. Your doctor or the office staff can help you find out whether you are eligible for a drug-assistance program.

For more on lowering prescription drug costs, read our recent advice on shopping around and discount programs. And see our free Best Buy Drugs reports on conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and chronic pain, and our Money Saving Guides on prescription drugs assistance programs, splitting your pills, and more.

Comments

[Bette]

Everyone has to watch out for themselves. No-one else is going to take care of you. Even folks with insurance should pay attention. If you've got a $10 co-pay on a generic ask what the cash price is because it might be less than $10!! I found a prescription discount card to help with my meds. It's at www.rxdrugcard.com. They tell you right there on the website what you'll be paying if you use their card. And the membership fee is only $4.95 a month for the whole family. Don't pay more than you need to. Do some research. It's YOUR money.

[honest doctor]

Re: Healthcare cost debate or “heist of the millennium”

Dear Sir or Madam,
It troubles me when I hear endless discussions about little things that don’t really matter that much while avoiding the most fundamental problem.
Here is what I think it is:
It is a well known fact that At 16+% of GDP or 2.2 trillion dollars per year American healthcare costs twice as much as healthcare in any other developed country, while the outcomes (morbidity and mortality) are worse and 15% of the population (45 million) is not covered. Unfortunately the debate at this point focuses only on the 45 million people that are not covered and how to find even more money to cover them. In addition an argument is frequently made that American healthcare is the best in the world, without any evidence to prove it, and thus needs to be preserved. At the end of the discussion a passing reference is usually made to the need to do something about the rising costs.
What about the costs that are already there?
Unfortunately, not a single person said this – by doing simple arithmetic, based on the above facts, one can easily arrive at the following - If this extra 8% of GDP isn’t producing any improvement in the health of this nation, then it is a WASTE?
In other terms, more than 1 trillion dollars per year goes to the “Medical industrial complex” without producing any benefit for the country. Clearly this amounts to massive and systematic wealth transfer, comparable to the Wall Street deeds over the last few years. This astronomical amount of waste exceeds the GDP of the most countries in the world. And there is nothing to show for it.
So this trillion dollars is either stolen or wasted every year and it is rising at the rate of 12-15%per year.
Who pays for it? We, the taxpayers, through lower wages, higher taxes and insurance premiums.
Some of this extra $1trillion/yr cost is illegal (like overbilling, etc), some is borderline, although should be illegal (like price fixing by the providers in the particular part of the country), some has to do with plain mismanagement, but most of it is probably legal and done “by commission or by omission”. In other words, it had to be intentionally designed into the system.
This system is designed to “be best at being the most expensive”. One can only imagine the amount of influence the stakeholders on a receiving side can afford to buy with just 5 percent of this extra trillion dollars per year.
One can also imagine that if this waste were to be eliminated, assuming that the government had the courage to do it (and no one else can even try to handle this task), the savings to the economy would be sufficient not only to cover the 45 million people (this would cost less than 100 billion dollars per year), but also, enough to rebuild the whole American industrial and transport infrastructure within just a few years.
If so, then the whole different set of issues has to be discussed:
1. Why is this 1 trillion dollars continues to be wasted? Why is this allowed to go on? How do we as a nation get our 1 trillion dollars/year back?
2. Who are the main beneficiaries of this 1 trillion/yr of national wealth transfer and who allowed them to do this to us? Where specifically is all this money going, to whom?
3. Why do the lawmakers, the law enforcement, federal and state governments allows this to go on? Who and why allowed this to happen?
4. how do we get the healthcare cost down to 8% of GDP? How and when will this nation get its 1 trillion dollars/year back
5. Who will be responsible to stop this “heist of the millennium”?

Even Pres. Obama hinted in one of his earlier speeches that this problem is so bad that it might bring this country to bankruptcy (and as such is a matter of national security).

Unless we address these issues, rather than talk around them, we don’t stand a chance as a nation.

The Honest Doctor

[Martina]

Thank God Pfizer's CEO took home only $9 million! and let's not even get into the health care industry payouts! If there is a Wall Street Hell (whose CEO is Fuld), the for-profit health care CEO's should rent there, soon they'll own it!

[James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.]

It is a shame people don't get prescriptions filled due to costs.
They should try the options you mentioned.
Also their doctor should know and get involved.

Before your doctor leaves your exam room tell him/her you cannot afford high cost meds and cannot get them filled. Ask,
how expensive they will be approximately?

If out of your range then,
Is there an alternative, or do they come in generic?

If not then,
Can you have samples for a trial run before buying a new med that may give you an unwanted side effect or may not work?

Many people do not know that most drug companies offer programs to defray costs for low-income patients. They should check out your link.