Thursday, 29. July 2010
Prescription medications are an increasingly costly part of everyone’s budget, and in tight economic times, finding ways of reducing prescription drug costs is very attractive.
Sometimes a terrible choice has to be made, one medication over another, prescriptions or food… insanely expensive but still helpful medications that aren’t covered by insurance and may be out of reach.
Here the online health resource WebMD has come up with ten money saving ways to keep those prescription drug costs under control.
1) Consider Generics – Nothing says you must take the name brand medication; often generic drugs are just as effective options. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that heart disease patients often do just as well on the generic form of a medication as they do on the brand name variety.
2) Halving Higher Dose Pills – It’s an extra step on your part, you need to carefully break each tablet, but it can save you money in the long run, especially on medications you must take often. The thing is, both high and low doses of most medications cost the same – so you’re getting the benefit of a quantity pricing. Talk to your doctor about this first to ensure it’s a suitable option for you.
3) Higher Doses Taken Less Often – In some cases, a change in dosing schedule can save you money without impacting treatment. Rather than taking small doses twice a day, ask your doctor about a higher dose taken once daily.
4) Switching From Combo Medications – Separate pills can sometimes be less costly than the combination medications, so talk to your doctor if you’re having trouble paying for the medication. You may be surprised by the options open to you.
5) Shopping For The Best Prices – The cost of prescription drugs can vary from store to store, and are sometimes cheaper if you order by mail or online. Don’t be shy about asking for prices; just as you would any other item you buy. All chain drug stores are selling the same medications – it’s up to you how much you’ll pay in profits to the drug store.
6) Investigating Drug Company Assistance Programs – If you meet certain financial criteria, you may qualify for assistance from a drug manufacturer. There will probably be paperwork and phone calls, but the savings can make the effort well worth it.
7) Looking At Medicare Part D – if you’re 65 or older, or have Medicare as the result of a disability, you can change plans every year from November 15th to December 31st. Don’t do this without some investigation… talk with your pharmacist and take a look at your current plan to see if it’s still meeting your needs, if not, plan for a change. 
Storing Medications Correctly – Heat, moisture and darkness can affect the potency of a medication, which means don’t store your medications in the bathroom medicine cabinet. After spending so much to get a particular drug, you won’t want to find it impossible to take because of damage due to how it may have been stored.
9) Don’t Save Medications – Once your condition improves the temptation is to stop taking it and keep the rest around for the future – don’t! This can be dangerous, and end up hurting your health (far more costly than the few dollars) in the long run. Finish your prescribed medication (especially those antibiotics) and go back to the doctor if you feel ill again.
10) Beware Expensive Drug Promotions – Especially those one-time deals. Remember, the incredible deal you get as part of a promotion won’t be there when it’s time to refill the prescription. In the long run, you’ll pay more for the same drug.
It’s important to keep in mind that your doctor and pharmacist are here to help you find a prescription drug that you can afford and that will help your symptoms best. Work with them. Confide financial struggles and see what can be done for reducing prescription drug costs – after all, if you don’t ask, no one can help and things won’t get easier.
Posted in Articles by Prescription Savings -
Monday, 19. July 2010
In today’s economy, would you like to reduce your prescription drug costs, even without insurance? You don’t like the thought of possibly having to choose which medicines to buy and not to buy, or choosing between eating and buying your medicine.
You can save a lot of money on prescriptions by buying generics. They are not always available. Generics are often just as effective as the brand name equivalent medications are. The Journal of the American Medical Association recently published findings that showed that the generic form of a heart medication is just as effective for those with heart disease as the more expensive brand name medications.
You can often save a lot of money on your prescription drug costs by simply shopping from store to store. You might save even more by buying your prescriptions online or by phone. It is a simple fact that all chain drugstores sell the same products. The difference in price is caused by how much profit they seek to make.
You might save money by checking out drug company assistance programs. Drug companies may help you, if you meet certain financial conditions. You will have to complete a lot of paperwork. You will end up making a lot of phone calls. In the end, however, your savings will make the work worth the effort.
Changing your Medicare plan can save you money. If you’re on Medicare Part D because you are 65 or older or on disability, or are on Medicare because of a disability, you have the right to change your plan each year from November 15 to December 31. Before you consider changing your plan, talk to your pharmacist to see if such action would be a good idea for you. If your plan does not meet your need, a change might help you save money.
You can save money on prescriptions by avoiding the expensive one time deals offered as a drug promotion. The incredible deal you will receive now will not help you when you want to refill your order. You will actually end up paying more for the same drug.
Your pharmacist and your doctor are there to help. They can help find a medication that will help you at the lowest cost. Tell them about your financial situation. If you don’t ask for their help; they won’t help, and you will pay more money.
Sometimes combination medications are more expensive. Talk to your doctor, and he may be able to give you prescriptions for separate pills. You might be surprised how much money you will be able to save.
You might be able to save money on prescriptions if you ask your doctor if you can take a higher dose of a medicine once a day, rather than a lower dose, twice a day. Who knows? You might save money, without your treatment being impacted.
You might be able to save money on prescriptions if you get a prescription for a higher dose of your medication and then cut your pill into. Ask your doctor if this would work in your case. This might be especially beneficial as far as savings on the medicines you take the most.
Who knows how much money you could save on your prescriptions, with just a few simple steps?
Posted in Articles by Prescription Savings -
Saturday, 5. June 2010
My husband and I are thinking about starting our family. We are financially secure (as in we don’t live paycheck to paycheck, have little debt, and have a decent amount of money in our savings) but we still want to make sure that we have the means to support a baby. I don’t think it’s fair to knowingly bring a child into the world and not be able to support it properly.
So what are the costs involved? I know how much things like diapers and formula cost, but I’m trying to figure out how many diapers babies go through a day, and how much formula they consume. (I plan on breastfeeding, but incase it doesn’t work I want to be prepared for the cost of formula) Also, how often do babies need to go to the doctor? We have good insurance, but the office co-pay is $20 per visit and prescriptions are $10 for generic and $30 for non-generics. If you can help me out with any of the gaps I have in my info, as well as provide any additional info and/or advice I would really appriciate it. 
Posted in Answers by Prescription Savings -
Sunday, 18. April 2010
Here are some of the groups on the menu if anything like the existing Senate or House health plans become law:
•?Young people. If the government mandates that everyone must have health insurance, healthy young people will have to buy policies that don’t reflect the low risk they have of getting sick. The House and Senate bills do let insurers set premiums based on age, but only up to a 2-to-1 ratio, versus a real-world ratio of 5 to 1. This means lower prices for older (and wealthier) folks, but high prices for the young. “They’ll have sticker shock,” says Rep. Paul Ryan, ranking Republican on the Budget Committee.
•?Small Businesses. Employers who don’t provide coverage will have to pay a tax up to 8% of their payroll. Yet those who do provide coverage also have to pay the tax—if the law says their coverage is not “adequate.” Amazingly, even if a small business provides adequate insurance but its employees choose coverage in another plan offered through the government, the employer still must pay.
•?Health Savings Account (HSA) holders. Eight million Americans, according to the Treasury Department, are covered by plans with low-cost premiums and high deductibles that are designed for large, unexpected medical costs. Money is also set aside in a savings account to cover the deductibles, and whatever isn’t spent in one year can build up tax-free. Nearly a third of new HSA users, according to Treasury figures, previously had no insurance or bought coverage on their own.
These policies will be severely limited. The Senate plan says a policy deemed “acceptable” must have insurance (rather than the individual) pay out at least 76% of the benefits. The House plan is pegged at 70%. That’s not the way these plans are set up to work. Ray Ramthun, who implemented the HSA regulations at the Treasury Department in 2003, says the regulations are crippling. “Companies tell me they could be forced to take products off the market,” he said in an interview.
•?Medicare Advantage users. Mr. Obama and Congressional Democrats want to cut back this program—care provided by private companies and subsidized by the government. Medicare Advantage grew by 15% last year; 10.5 million seniors, or 22% of all Medicare patients, are now enrolled.
The program is especially popular with those in badly served urban areas and with those who can’t afford the premiums for Medicare supplemental (MediGap) policies. A total of 54% of Hispanics on Medicare have chosen Medicare Advantage, as have 40% of African-Americans, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services at the Department of Health and Human Services.
These plans tend to provide better coordinated and preventive care, and richer prescription drug coverage. But Democrats dislike Medicare Advantage’s private-sector nature, and they have some legitimate beefs with its unevenly generous reimbursement rates. This week Mr. Obama told the Washington Post that the program was “a prime example” of his efforts to cut Medicare spending, because he claims people “aren’t getting good value” from it.
That’s not what others say. In January, Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski wrote the Obama administration expressing his concern about its efforts “to scale back Medicare Advantage” because the plans “play an important role in providing affordable health coverage.” He noted that 39% of Oregon’s Medicare patients had chosen Medicare Advantage, and that in “some of our Medicare Advantage plans . . . with proper chronic disease management for such conditions as heart disease, asthma and diabetes, hospitalization admission rates have declined.”
The $156 billion in Medicare Advantage cuts over the next decade proposed by Mr. Obama will force many seniors to go back to traditional Medicare at greater expense. A new study for the Florida Association of Health Plans found that because Medicare Advantage plans have richer benefits and lower deductibles and copayments than traditional Medicare, seniors in that state would face dramatically higher payments if forced to give up their Medicare Advantage plans. Cost increases would range from $2,214 a year in Jacksonville to $3,714 a year in Miami.
There are reasons that Blue Dog Democrats in Congress are leery of their party’s health-care reform plans. Many are in districts or states carried by John McCain, and they worry about the political fallout when these groups realize they will be paying for health-care reform.
They also know that every government entitlement winds up becoming a money pit. In 1965, Sen. Allen Ellender (D., La.) dismissed promises that Medicare would be a modest program to save seniors from bankruptcy. “Let us not be so naïve as to believe that the Medicare program will not be increased from year to year to the point that the government will have to impose more taxes on the little man or else take the necessary money out of the Treasury,” he told colleagues.
Ellender was right, and
Ellender was right, and his warning is even more relevant in our era of skyrocketing deficits and Medicare costs. The only way the House and Senate health plans can pass is if the costs they impose on vulnerable parts of the population continue to be hidden.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052970203517304574306303720472842.html
What do you think?
Posted in Answers by Prescription Savings -
Monday, 5. April 2010
Americans pay more for prescription drugs than anywhere else in the world. Many people on low or fixed incomes are desperate for relief from the high prices of the medications they need.
Because of the escalating prices, many Americans are forced to go without the medications or give up other basic necessities in order to afford their prescriptions.
However, there are some things you can do to help control your prescription drug expenses. Here are a few tips from PolarMeds Pharmacy:
* Be sure the medication is covered under your insurance. Most patients have some type of health insurance. However, your policy might not cover all of the medications you need.
Ask your doctor if the prescribed medication is covered under your insurance.
* Substitute a generic equivalent. The drug companies that make generics must meet the same rigorous standards as the brand-name drug companies. The generic medications work the same way, and you can save
hundreds of dollars a year.
Before getting your prescription filled, ask if the drug is available in generic form. On the prescription, there is often a box that can be checked off, which has wording like “substitute for equivalent drug.” That statement allows the pharmacist to switch to a cheaper, generic equivalent medication.
* Take advantage of pill cutting. Most medications come in several different dosages. When prescribed a medication, ask your doctor if it can be cut in half.
Cutting a pill in half that is twice the dosage you usually take can often save you 25 percent to 50 percent off your usual prescription costs. Pill cutters cost only about $3 and can be found at any drugstore. Do not use a knife or razor blade.
* Do some comparison shopping. If your neighborhood pharmacy does not provide the best prices, go elsewhere. One option is to order online or by mail order through Canada, where prices are generally 30 percent to 50 percent cheaper than in the United States. PolarMeds Pharmacy, for instance, is specially licensed by the Manitoba Pharmaceutical Association to conduct international pharmacy services.
Posted in Articles by Prescription Savings -
Tuesday, 9. March 2010
The cost of Prescription drugs are increasing dramatically and unfortunately more and more of the expense is coming out of the consumer’s pocket. As only about 60% of employers help to cover health insurance and prescription costs for their employees, this places more of a burden on the consumer. A 4-Tier Prescription plan is an option that saves you money on your prescriptions and makes prescription coverage more affordable for you.
What is a 4 Tier Plan?
With a 4 Tier plan, prescription medications are divided into co-payment categories that are called Tiers. A consumer’s co-payment is normally the least for generic or brand name medications that are on the Preferred Brand Drug List. Example of Tier Pricing: Drugs in the 1st Tier are priced less than $10, prescriptions in the 2nd Tier are less than $20, drugs that fall in the 3rd Tier are less than $50 and drugs that are in the 4th Tier are at special negotiated discount prices. Consumers can normally fill prescriptions at most pharmacies and there are no deductibles that have to be met, no age requirements, no claims forms and no waiting periods. Consumers simply present their prescription card to the pharmacist to receive the discounted Tier pricing.
Are Generic Medications a Good Alternative?
A drugs brand name, is the trade name under which the product is marketed and sold, and is protected by patents so that it can only be produced by one manufacturer for a certain number of years. Generics are basically a chemical copy of the brand name drug. The drug may look different such as a different color or shape, but the active ingredients must be the same for both. Using Generic drugs does not compromise the quality of your health care and they are lower-cost alternatives to brand name drugs. The preferred drug list contains only FDA-approved generic medications. Brand name drugs are also included on the Preferred Brand drug list.
How can a 4 Tier Prescription Plan be beneficial for you?
A 4 Tier prescription plan is designed to provide you and your physician with a high quality benefit. One that helps manage costs while still offering enormous choice. When you visit your physician, take your prescribing guide with you and have your doctor choose a preferred drug that is in the same therapeutic class in place of an expensive brand name medication that is right for you. This can significantly lower your prescriptions costs and allow you to keep more of your hard earned money in your pocket.
Today’s consumer must take a more active roll in his or her own healthcare and the associated costs. A 4 Tier Prescription plan provides a prescribing guide with the preferred drugs available in each Tier. This allows you, along with your physician, to choose a drug from the same therapeutic class that is right for you and that can save you a substantial amount of money and put you in more control of your out of pocket prescription expenses. 4 Tier Prescription plans are available to both individuals and employer groups.
Posted in Articles by Prescription Savings -