How Much Are You Spending At The Pharmacy?

Prescription medication is vital to the practice of medicine
How often have you gone to the doctor for a problem and not
walked out with a prescription? I can say with confidence,
probably not too often
It the last hundred years, antibiotics have saved millions of
lives In the two year period of 1918 and 1919, scientists
estimate the influenza virus killed between 20 and 40 million
people worldwide In the United States, the total deaths
amounted to 675,000; that is more deaths than the total of all
US war battle deaths So more US citizens were killed by the flu
outbreak of 1918/1919, than were killed all the wars we have
ever fought Thankfully, scientists have developed a vaccine
Prior to 1955, thousands of children were killed or crippled by
the polio virus The invention of a vaccine by Dr Jonas Salk
has all but eradicated this terrible disease worldwide
Insulin has extended the life and improved the health of
millions of diabetics It wasn’t until 1921 that insulin was
“discovered” In the 1940s, scientists linked diabetes with its
long term complications such as blindness and kidney failure
And blood glucose monitors, which tell you exactly how much
insulin to inject, were developed just 35 years ago Now,
scientists are transplanting insulin-producing pancreatic
beta-cells to Type I diabetics
High blood pressure and high cholesterol seriously shortened
one’s life just a generation ago With new technology comes new
ways to deal with these conditions The drug class statins,
which include today’s most prescribed medication, Lipitor, was
only just developed in 1987 It is pretty obvious that
prescription medications are important Anything this important
and essential to the life and welfare of the human race is going
to be expensive
Americans spent more than $170 billion for their prescription
medication in 2004 The average out-of-pocket cost per
prescription is now $5458 and the average person over the age
of 55 takes 26 different medications per day That comes to an
average out-of-pocket expense of about $140 per month or $1680
per year Those over the age of 65 spend more on prescription
costs ($2,300 a year average) than on physician care, vision
services, and medical supplies combined In fact, the total
health care spending in the United States in 2004 was $18
trillion That is 43 times the amount spent on national defense
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,
spending of prescription drugs increased at an average rate of
145% a year from 1997 to 2002 The statistics prove that the
average prescription medication costs have quadrupled since
1991 The cost continues to increase at a rate of about 18% per
year This 18% increase translates to an additional $226
billion for the drug manufactures between 2000 and 2001
Health insurance costs are also soaring The number of Americans
without health insurance is now approaching 50 million The
co-pays for prescription drugs have risen 62% in the last three
years Since the year 2000, insurance premiums have gone up 49%
and deductibles are rising at a rate of 22% a year People in
this country are not seeking medical attention because of the
cost They wait until it is too late and they are taken away in
either an ambulance or hearse
The Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit, private foundation,
estimates that those over 55 years of age, in 2006, will pay an
average of $3,160 on medication, that’s $263 per month
When are we going to do something about this? The government
thinks it came up with an answer in it’s Medicare Part D
Already the program is riddled with delays, problems, and
confusion The only way we, as consumers, are going to lower our
costs, is take matters into our own hands The public needs to
be educated in how the drug companies price their medication,
why the costs are so high, and how you can reduce your costs
Take the initiative, learn all about your medication Ask your
doctor why he or she prescribed that particular drug If there
something else that works the same way but costs less? Can I
double the dose and cut the tablet in half? Are there and
samples you have here in the office?
These are just three of the many questions you can ask your
doctor Depending on the answer, you can begin to formulate your
plan for savings

Tags | battle, cholesterol, insulin, medication, medications, medicine, monitors, practice, prescribed, statins, virus