How Much Are You Spending at the Pharmacy?

Kaiser Family Foundation Health Care Costs - How Much Are You Spending at the Pharmacy?

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Prescription medication is vital to the practice of medicine. How often have you gone to the doctor for a question and not walked out with a prescription? I can say with confidence, probably not too often.

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Kaiser Family Foundation Health Care Costs

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 advanced 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 condition of millions of diabetics. It wasn't until 1921 that insulin was "discovered." In the 1940s, scientists related 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 advanced 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 advanced in 1987. It is pretty inevitable that designate medications are important. whatever this foremost and valuable to the life and welfare of the human race is going to be expensive.

Americans spent more than 0 billion for their designate medication in 2004. The average out-of-pocket cost per designate is now .58 and the average man over the age of 55 takes 2.6 dissimilar medications per day. That comes to an average out-of-pocket expense of about 0 per month or 80 per year. Those over the age of 65 spend more on designate costs (,300 a year average) than on doctor care, vision services, and medical supplies combined. In fact, the total condition care spending in the United States in 2004 was .8 trillion. That is 4.3 times the amount spent on national defense.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, spending of designate drugs increased at an average rate of 14.5% a year from 1997 to 2002. The statistics prove that the average designate 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 further .6 billion for the drug industry between 2000 and 2001.

Health insurance costs are also soaring. The amount of Americans without condition insurance is now approaching 50 million. The co-pays for designate 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 concentration because of the cost. They wait until it is too late and they are taken away in whether an ambulance or hearse.

The Kaiser house Foundation, a non-profit, private foundation, estimates that those over 55 years of age, in 2006, will pay an average of ,160 on medication, that's 3 per month.

When are we going to do something about this? The government thinks it came up with an rejoinder 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 group needs to be educated in how the drug fellowships price their medication, why the costs are so high, and how you can sell out 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 duplicate 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.

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