Elder Care Guide and Information

Prescription drugs are outrageously expensive.

I know families struggling to pay monthly drug bills of $500 and more. It can be a strain on the entire family coming up with that much money every month. Too often, this leads seniors to cut their pills in half, skip dosages, or to completely stop taking their prescriptions in an attempt to make their drugs more affordable. Failure to take drugs as prescribed leads to improper medicating. It’s not safe.

Here are five 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. Shop price. Use the free services at www.pharmacychecker.com to find the lowest cost for prescription drugs through reputable online and mail order pharmacies. This site is the leading independent source of information about online pharmacies.
5. Ask your pharmacist to check for contraindications. Most seniors have “part” doctors: one doctor for the heart, one for kidneys, one for bones, etc. Many physicians fail to take the time to ask about the other prescriptions you’ve been given. The drugs 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.

Filed under: Prescription Drugs