In talking to some friends, I learned that they are trying to get by on less prescription drugs. Being on a fixed income, they have to balance between food, housing, other necessities, and sometimes their prescriptions have to wait. Personally, I always take my insulin, but I have also been known to stretch a 30 day supply of my cholesterol pill to 35 days or so.
I heard about other data showing that for the first time in around ten years, this is happening country wide. Some people stopped taking their Lipitor and other cholesterol medicines because they were so expensive. Pfizer reported that their sales were down 13% which bears this out. Other studies indicated that compared to last year, overall prescription drug sales are lower by about 1%. They had been rising each year until now. It might not be all negative, because some believe we are overmedicated as a society.
What is causing this? Some of the possible causes for decreasing prescriptions may be due to drug safety concerns, more drugs being available over the counter, or might be related to the higher out-of-pocket drug co-payments that insurers are making consumers to pay, but I would think it’s more likely due to individuals cutting back due to economic pressures.
For older Americans, in 2006 Medicare drug coverage gave more seniors coverage, and initially helped spur growth in the nation’s overall number of prescriptions, but now a downside is a possible coverage gap in each recipient’s yearly benefit (the so-called Part D doughnut hole) means that many Medicare patients are without coverage for part of the year.
Recent IMS Health figures showed that prescription volumes declined in June, July and August, backing up studies from last year suggesting that prescription use begins to drop at about the time more Medicare beneficiaries begin entering this doughnut hole.
If this trend continues it could have some important consequences. If enough people try to save money by not taking their prescription drugs, conditions which can be controlled could escalate into major medical problems. That could eventually raise the nation’s total health care bill and lower the nation’s standard of living.
For myself, I have supplemented my nutritional and immune system requirements by getting some over the counter assistance for diabetes and cholesterol control. I didn’t realize how many people do the same thing until I started paying attention to those around me. The more people I talked to, the more it seemed like a low cost alternative to prescriptions costing $60 or more.
I heard about other data showing that for the first time in around ten years, this is happening country wide. Some people stopped taking their Lipitor and other cholesterol medicines because they were so expensive. Pfizer reported that their sales were down 13% which bears this out. Other studies indicated that compared to last year, overall prescription drug sales are lower by about 1%. They had been rising each year until now. It might not be all negative, because some believe we are overmedicated as a society.
What is causing this? Some of the possible causes for decreasing prescriptions may be due to drug safety concerns, more drugs being available over the counter, or might be related to the higher out-of-pocket drug co-payments that insurers are making consumers to pay, but I would think it’s more likely due to individuals cutting back due to economic pressures.
For older Americans, in 2006 Medicare drug coverage gave more seniors coverage, and initially helped spur growth in the nation’s overall number of prescriptions, but now a downside is a possible coverage gap in each recipient’s yearly benefit (the so-called Part D doughnut hole) means that many Medicare patients are without coverage for part of the year.
Recent IMS Health figures showed that prescription volumes declined in June, July and August, backing up studies from last year suggesting that prescription use begins to drop at about the time more Medicare beneficiaries begin entering this doughnut hole.
If this trend continues it could have some important consequences. If enough people try to save money by not taking their prescription drugs, conditions which can be controlled could escalate into major medical problems. That could eventually raise the nation’s total health care bill and lower the nation’s standard of living.
For myself, I have supplemented my nutritional and immune system requirements by getting some over the counter assistance for diabetes and cholesterol control. I didn’t realize how many people do the same thing until I started paying attention to those around me. The more people I talked to, the more it seemed like a low cost alternative to prescriptions costing $60 or more.
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