Nothing is worse than getting into the donut hole.....medications are beyond what we can pay. Jan and Dick

More Americans forgo medicine, visits to doctor

posted Wed, 26 Sep 2012

Two new surveys by Consumer Reports found that an increasing number of Americans are making potentially dangerous health decisions. Some examples of unhealthy methods Americans are using to cope with the weak economy and out of control healthcare costs include: not filling prescriptions, skipping doses of medication, splitting pills without doctor approval, and putting off visits to the doctor.

The surveys paint a grim picture. Of those under age 65 without prescription drug coverage, nearly half (45 percent) neglected to fill a prescription due to cost in 2012. This alarming trend of medication non-adherence has rapidly deteriorated since the last Consumer Reports survey last year—it’s up from 27 percent in 2011.

Those with drug coverage (21 percent) and without (46 percent) also reported cutting back on grocery spending to be able to afford medications. Twenty-two percent of those without coverage resorted to using credit cards to pay for prescriptions (14 percent of those with coverage did too).

The Consumer Reports press release includes some tips for Americans struggling with prescription drug prices, like using over-the-counter medicines when possible or asking for generic rather than name brand medications.

The proposed solutions might be helpful to a few people. But I would expect that most Americans with any common sense have probably considered these options already. Some people have better outcomes when they take the brand name formulary of a particular drug. And generics options aren’t available in the U.S. for a number of drugs. What then?

This has risen to the level of a public health crisis. Americans are making dangerous decisions about their healthcare. These decisions will eventually affect us all—as putting off visits to the doctor and skipping pills will translate to astronomically expensive emergency room visits later.

Apparently, Consumer Reports and the FDA would rather have Americans suffer the consequences of not taking their prescribed medications than direct them to another perfectly safe alternative. Millions have seen the health and financial benefits of drug importation from legitimate international pharmacies over the past decade or more. Research has shown that importation can be a safe, money-saving option for Americans. Yet the archaic U.S. government position on drug importation remains, as do efforts to thwart it.

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