First of a series:
If you want to save on your prescriptions, you have to first know the games drug firms and retailers play.
First rule, according to Consumer Reports "On Health,” is during the last five years of a patent, drug companies jack up the prices, figuring that they already have a captive audience.
The price increases are substantial. Consumer Reports says it used studies of almost 50 million prescriptions filled in the past five years to come up with its data.
Here are a couple of examples:
Boniva, used to treat osteoporosis. The average price in 2007 was $119 and it increased by 102 percent to $240 this year.
Provigil, used to treat excessive sleepiness. The price in 2007 was $272 while today it costs $1,101, more than 300 percent higher.
So what can you do? Ask for generics. Also check with your doctor on whether other similar, but cheaper medication would do the same for you.
And, make sure you get at least an online subscription to Consumer Reports and buy their health newsletter. You can’t spend money more wisely.
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Other suggestions to avoid over-priced medications, or decrease the need for them: be accountable to and for your own health. Exercise is probably one of the biggest recommendations I make for patients in my own practice. Weight loss is huge; so many diseases are either caused or exacerbated by excess weight, and losing it is imperative. Stress reduction is the third most common recommendation I make. If you can't afford a yoga class (which, by the way, is a truly awesome way to reduce stress as well as learn deep breathing techniques and awareness of your body's response to efforts at relaxation), then go to the library and borrow a copy of a yoga DVR or video. Record one of the yoga programs on tv, and do it on your own. Get a meditation tape. The efforts people make today, whatever your age, will be what keeps money in our own pockets and not the pharmaceutical companies'.