Prescriptions Ready and Waiting, Waiting

[question everything]

Prescriptions Ready and Waiting, Waiting

By: Angela Bryant Starke | Source: From the AARP Bulletin print edition | October 1, 2009

Gloria Wofford tries to be the model patient, but when it comes to taking all of her prescriptions, she admits she falls short. The 76-year-old retired Pittsburgh social worker often cannot afford the $1,600 for one three-month prescription. She has had to leave the medicine at the pharmacy or simply not fill it. “It’s a nightmare,” she says.

That nightmare is shared by more and more people, according to a recent study by Philadelphia-based information services provider Wolters Kluwer Health. Prescription abandonmen — the term used to describe when a patient submits a prescription to a pharmacy but never picks it up — is on the upswing. In fact, it went up by 34 percent from 2006 to 2008, the survey notes.

“We don’t know what caused the increase, but we believe the economy has had an impact on the rate patients are walking away without their medicine,” says Dea Belazi of Wolters Kluwer.

Registered pharmacists such as Kristen Binaso of Clifton, N.J., see it happening every day. A spokeswoman for the American Pharmacists Association, Binaso says health care costs will eventually rise because people who skip medication must take even more medication — or use emergency services — in the future.

http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourhealth/medications/articles/prescriptions_ready_and_waiting_waiting.html

[xchrom]

1. until we get as angry about an issue like this as we do about war --

there won't be much in the way of a dramatic change.

[DJ13]

2. “We don’t know what caused the increase....."

".....cannot afford the $1,600 for one three-month prescription"

Funny, but they never say that maybe (just a lucky guess here) that its because the f*cking pharma companies keep jacking up the prices on prescriptions?

[question everything]

4. If you've heard Olbermann hour long "special comment"

at some point he said how a pharmacist told him about an anti-fungus cream that cost a few bucks to make, but that he has to sell it for a couple of hundred dollars. By law.

And about how the pharmacist had to tell a woman that her insurance will no longer cover a prescription - she may have maxed out on that - and she just nodded sadly and left.

[saracat]

3. Which is why HCR without Big Pharma reform is almost worthless

This is why we aren't talking about BigPharma at all, plus, they are contributing $60 million for ads in support of hcr. Hmmm. We needat the very least a PO for ALL and Big Pharma reform.There is NO excuse for the prices they charge and even reimportation of drugs isn't the answer..They must somehow be limited in their profit margin. I am not sure how that could be done but something needs to be done.O

[Beaverhausen]

5. Oh my god- I picked up a prescription tonight and couldn't believe all the bags in their racks...

...that were overflowing onto the floor. I meant to ask the pharmacist what was going on but forgot to. This was at CVS.

[hedgehog]

6. I wonder if a lot of elderly people hit the donut hole at this time of year.

[question everything]

7. This "donut hole" is somethig that I've never understood

Why was it even put there? And why were all the seniors during the town hall meetings not screaming about that?