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| Prescription Drug Costs: Four Proven Ways to Save |
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Let's face it: prescription drugs are outrageously expensive and getting more so. I know families struggling to pay monthly drug bills of $500 and more. Too often, this leads to improper medicating. Seniors will cut pills in half, take them every other day or sometimes stop taking them all together in an effort to make drugs affordable. And that's not safe. Here are four ways to make prescription drugs more affordable. 1.See if your state has a prescription drug benefit for the disadvantaged elderly. At least 28 states now have some form of program to help the elderly afford drug costs. These programs use state funds to subsidize the cost of medication for those who qualify. Here's a list of those 28 states and how to reach them. 2. Talk to your pharmacist about generic brand prescription drugs. Generics can be a safe alternative to more expensive name brand drugs. But a word of caution here: switch to the generic only if the doctor agrees. Some of the newer drugs work inside the body in a different way from the older generics. I'm not an expert in this area, but read about the issues a while back. The doc may have prescribed the name brand drug for a specific reason. 3. Check into Wal-Mart pharmacy's $4 program. This pharmacy and a few more offer many common prescription medications at a greatly reduced rate. 4. Ask your pharmacist to check for contraindications. Most seniors have "part doctors": one doctor for the heart, one for kidneys, one for bones, etc. Most physicians won't take the time to ask about the medicines other docs prescribe. They may be working against each other. Your pharmacist can tell you. Caution: get the doctor's OK before changing any prescription regimen. Prescription drugs need to be taken as prescribed. Doing otherwise is "penny wise and pound foolish". The money saved on prescriptions pales when compared to the added cost of additional doctor visits or even worse, hospital stays because the condition is not fully handled. |