The links to the $4.00 scripts on this site can be a good place to start. BD
6/18/2007 - Nearly one in four people who fell into the ‘‘doughnut hole’’ — the nearly $4,000 gap built into Part D drug coverage — last year could have avoided it if they had used available generic drugs instead of brand-name medications, according to a recent analysis by Express Scripts, a major pharmacy benefit manager.
Rather than using expensive brand-name medicines, which can cause individuals to fall into the doughnut hole quickly, patients should ask their doctors about cheaper generic alternatives, the report recommends. Generic drugs contain the same active ingredients as their brand-name counterparts and have been found to be equally effective, yet cost much less.
Much like the article about medical records, I wonder why the onus is always on the patient. Few walk into an appointment with their own PDR. Doctors need to be brought on board with this. Since it clearly behooves the Medicare D providers, they need to become advocates for this cause to counter the pharmaceutical companies -- pushing for patents to expire when they should, perhaps even sending people into the field to visit MDs (it can't be a coincidence that so many of my scripts match the pens and clipboards and calendars in my various docs' offices).
ReplyDeleteIt's also a bit misleading to say that there are generics just as good as brand name drugs. There are, but drugs vary in effectiveness by patient. I have RA and tried every generic NSAID that exists, but not one worked (they were either ineffective or cause horrible side effects). Unfortunately, only Celebrex works well for me. When it goes generic, I'll be sure to switch, but that isn't an option now.
I agree there is always a need for name brand drugs too. Generics can have a variance in compounding elements and other non active ingredients too that can have allergic or some other type of reaction too.
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