The Affordable Care Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by the President in March 2010, gives Americans better health security by putting in place comprehensive health insurance reforms that hold insurance companies accountable, lower health care costs, guarantee more choice, and enhance the quality of care for all Americans. Even, the powerful pharmaceutical lobby supported passage of the health care reform bill, but only after cutting a few deals with the White House to ensure that their interests would be protected.

To illustrate the influence of the pharmaceutical lobby, consider the change in the stance of President Obama, who decried big pharmaceutical companies while he served as senator for Illinois and then again during his presidential campaign, but then did an about-face as president. During Obama’s presidential campaign, Obama repeatedly criticized Billy Tauzin, the pharmaceutical industry’s top lobbyist and a former congressman from Louisiana, for failing to support the practice of the U.S. government negotiating with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices. Then, Obama negotiated with him. Subsequently, Mr. Tauzin was paid $11.6 million in 2010, the year he negotiated the deal that helped pass the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, making him the highest paid lobbyist involved in the deal.

In closed-door negotiations over the health care reform package, the White House agreed to cap the cost of health care reform to pharmaceutical companies at $80 billion over a 10-year period. Pharmaceutical companies agreed to provide discounts on drugs of up to $80 billion over a decade in return for the Obama Administration’s assurances that the government would not negotiate lower prices for Medicare Part D, or the Medicare prescription drug program for seniors.

But Big Pharma would only make deals that would benefit Big Pharma, as pointed out by Donna Smith, legislative representative for the National Nurses United. http://www.nationalnursesunited.org Donna Smith is a long time advocate for health care and patients rights. Her compelling arguments can be read on the engaging website http://guaranteedhealthcare.org. The $80 billion figure is “a drop in the bucket in comparison to what they will gain in terms by having a purchase insurance mandate,” Smith said in a televised interview.

The health care reform bill, officially called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, makes it mandatory for every American to purchase insurance coverage by 2014, with some exceptions for low-income earners. Because pharmaceutical companies will not be required to negotiate any bulk pricing on drug sales, which would lower costs, Americans will be purchasing drugs at premium prices under insurance plans.

Donna Smith, National Nurses United

“So it’s a huge windfall for them,” Smith said. “[W]ith all of us purchasing coverage through private insurance and bringing those dollars in to buy pharmaceuticals, it’s a huge, huge benefit for them.”

The Obama Administration’s promise to Big Pharma that it will not negotiate for lower drug prices represents the government’s willingness to side with large pharmaceutical companies over U.S. consumers’ interests.

“If we want to be economical and be fiscally responsible, we negotiate the best deal for the people of this country, not the one that makes Big Pharma the happiest,” Smith said.

“This has been…the Obama administration’s strategy from the beginning,” she said. “You vilify these folks, the insurance industry and the pharmaceuticals, and then you cut deals in secret with them, and then you announce that these deals are such a marvelous find for the American people.”

“[It] is such a loss for the nation that we aren’t further along in this healthcare discussion…accepting the fact that health care is a basic human right, as [Obama] declared during his campaign, and moving forward from that position instead of just moving forward from the position that we want to keep the market in place, including Big Pharma and the insurance industry,” Smith said.

On January 31, 2011 the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was found unconstitutional by Florida Judge Roger Vinson in an action brought by 26 states. The On September 21, 2011 the US Department of Justice asked the US Supreme Court to hear the case. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in the spring of 2012, with a decision expected by June 2012.

For now, the status quo remains – Big Pharma wields its influence in Washington and U.S. consumers continue to pay premium prices for the prescription drugs they need.

Another Point of Negotiation: Personal Drug Importation

In addition to giving up the right to negotiate bulk pricing for medications during the debate over health care reform, the Obama Administration promised not to support the importation of prescription drugs for personal use. The agreement was a win for the pharmaceutical industry, as blocking U.S. citizens’ access to affordable drugs abroad is another method for keeping drug prices artificially high in the United States.

The Food and Drug Administration says it does not allow broad importation of pharmaceutical drugs for personal use from abroad because of safety concerns. But the FDA training manual, distributed to field personnel, allows FDA officials to exercise discretion in taking enforcement action against drug importation in the case of lifesaving drugs.

By stating that they don’t support importation of drugs for personal use because of safety concerns and then allowing the importation of lifesaving, the government is, perhaps, revealing its true position on importation. The government is willing to use scare tactics–implying that prescription drugs purchased from licensed pharmacies in Canada or other countries are less safe than drugs in the United States–to keep pharmaceutical companies in their powerful position of charging exorbitant prices for drugs in the United States.

It is “ridiculous to think that countries like Canada would allow drugs that were unsafe to be on the market,” reports Ms. Smith. “[I]t’s an insult to the people of Canada and to those systems that have developed very safe processes of their own over time.”

Big Pharma acknowledged the gains it made in negotiations with the White House by showing financial support for the health care reform bill. After their successful discussions with the White House, Big Pharma spent an estimated $150 million on television ads supporting the bill.

With Big Pharma’s support, the measure passed. The final vote in the House of Representatives was 219 to 212 on March 21, 2010. It was signed by President Obama on March 23, 2011. The effects of the health care reform bill on drug prices in the United States are only now being bought into light.

Big Pharma Keeps Firm Grip on Drug Pricing in U.S.

On October 22, 2011 leaked free-trade agreement negotiation documents revealed that the Obama administration is willing to be more generous to drug companies than free-trade agreements passed under former President George W. Bush. Consumer groups argue that the deal could provide broad patent protection to Big Pharma, rights for Pharma to challenge prices in public health programs and it could weaken existing regulations.

Meanwhile, Big Pharma retains its dominant hold on pharmaceutical drug pricing in the United States, engaging in price manipulation tactics to keep company profits soaring.

When Big Pharma first secures a patent on a drug, they justify the high cost of the drug by saying they need to recoup the costs of research and development, marketing, and the regulatory approval process. But then they often make a small change to the brand name patent in order to produce and market a slightly different drug at brand name prices.

“[T]hey tweak that formula ever so slightly at the end of that patent agreement and they get another patent extended for another period of time,” Smith said, “again reaping huge profits on the backs of the American people.”

“The pharmaceutical companies in the country make bar none the biggest profits of any industry on the planet,” Smith said.

U.S. citizens already pay for drug research and development through taxes that go to the government institutes of health and government-supported research initiatives, according to Smith. “The United States taxpayer is already paying for a lot of that research and development through the institutes of health, through major institutions, universities, and academic institutions, so it’s a fallacy to think that if we were to reform health care and hold Big Pharma down on some of its costs, that we wouldn’t have research and development,” she said.

“In fact, other countries are doing quite well with systems in which the public funds the research and the public takes advantage and shares all the information across the board on what happens,” Smith said.

Big Pharma’s tactics of heavily lobbying in Washington and engaging in price manipulation tactics keep the pharmaceutical companies in their powerful market position, despite the health care reform bill claiming to put U.S. citizens’ needs first.

What will it take for this balance of power to shift?

To read articles by Donna Smith, please visit National Nurses United and search for Donna Smith.

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Founded in 2003, Jan Drugs is a licensed, brick-and-mortar Canadian pharmacy regulated by the Canadian government for safety. Jan Drugs is a verified member of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA), which has been chosen by Google, Bing, and Yahoo as the verification authority for online pharmaceutical advertisements. Jan Drugs carries prescription medication made by the leading name-brand and first-tier generic manufactures at prices up to 80 percent less than US pharmacies. Jan Drugs has provided safe and affordable pharmaceuticals to over 100,000 US and Canadian patients, and has earned a rare A+ grade from the Better Business Bureau with an excellent safety record.

Obama’s Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act was designed to strengthen the Medicare Part D program and ensure that it will continue to provide health security to seniors for many years to come. The Act proposes to reduce Part D enrollees’ out-of-pocket costs when they reach the coverage gap, commonly referred to as the “doughnut hole.” The Medicare Part D “doughnut hole” has provided difficulties to cash strapped Americans, who need help to pay for life saving medications since the inception of the program. Often the coverage gap affects a patient when financial help and prescriptions are needed the most.

The Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit private operating foundation that’s dedicated to research and analysis on health issues, has delved into the effects that the “doughnut hole” has had on prescription costs for seniors. According to the foundation, since the Medicare Part D drug benefit took effect in 2006, beneficiaries enrolled in Part D plans have been required to pay 100 percent of their prescription drug costs after their total drug spending exceeds an initial coverage limit until they qualify for catastrophic coverage. The gap in coverage was $3,610 in 2010 and is projected to exceed $6,000 by 2020. In 2007, an estimated 3.4 million Part D seniors reached the coverage gap and were forced to pay 100 percent of the cost for prescribed drugs.

The Affordable Care Act was created to address the “doughnut hole” problem head on, with a rebate, drug manufacturer discounts and federal subsidies. By 2020, 75 percent of the price of brand name and generic drugs will be covered under these measures.

Already in 2011, the Affordable Care Act has begun to address the gap, beginning with a 50 percent discount on the total cost of brand-name prescription drugs that fall into the “doughnut hole.” Each year, prescription costs will be reduced further, and people with Medicare will be required to pay their normal cost-sharing amount for prescriptions until they reach the annual out-of-pocket limit.

Data Source: The Kaiser Family Foundation

While the aims of the Affordable Care Act seem beneficial to Americans on the surface and a feel-good fix for the Obama administration, the pharmaceutical industry stands to make gigantic profits from the legislation through price inflation, price fixing and governmental lobbying – and millions of Americans are already being affected by this inflation.

Price offsets likely to negate discounts

Recent investigation found, while manufacturer discounts attempt to close the “doughnut hole”, escalating drug prices would quickly offset the benefits of discounted medications. As President Obama and other politicians continue to push for a fair deal for American patients from pharmaceutical manufacturers, the prices of brand-name prescriptions are skyrocketing.

In late 2010, Amgen, the worlds largest biotech company projected revenues of $15.1 billion for the year and exceeded analysts forecasts. Amgen’s star pharmaceutical, Enbrel prescribed to treat the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, increased in sales by 3 percent to $939 million. The sales were enhanced by a nearly 5 percent price increase. In the second quarter of 2011, profits from Enbrel rose 9 percent on the wings of price increases. With America in economic recession and record high unemployment sparking rallies in the streets, new research from October 2011 reveals that employment in the biotech industry rose by an incredible 632 percent in the past five years in the state of California alone, including Amgen.

Source: Barclays Capital

Barclays Capital recently crunched the numbers for 130 top selling pharmaceutical drugs as indicated by sales. Brand name prescriptions have increased in price as much as 29 percent since 2010. Plavix has increased over 13 percent. In early 2010, Benicar, was one of the most affordable medications used to treat high blood pressure in its class. Within the year, a monthly supply of 20 milligram tablets topped out at $88.80, a 29 percent price increase.

Seniors may only see a small amount of savings until 2020

Seniors will see subsidies in the coverage gap for brand-name drugs beginning in 2013 of only 2.5 percent. At that point, the cost sharing will break down to 47.5 percent paid by the senior and 2.5 percent paid by the government plans, with the remaining 50 percent covered by a manufacturer discount. For generic drugs, the plan will reduce seniors’ out-of-pocket costs by 7 percent each year and inversely increase the amount paid by Medicare Part D by 7 percent each year.

Over the next 8 years, the out-of-pocket cost for prescriptions will slowly reduce until finally, in 2020, seniors enrolled in Medicare Part D will have 75 percent of their prescription costs covered.

While the Affordable Care Act slowly distributes financial responsibility away from seniors, the the size of the “doughnut hole” is expected to increase almost two fold by 2020. More importantly, the artificial inflation of prescription drugs prices of 20 percent per year or more would significantly diminish the cost savings and shift the burden of paying for over-priced prescription drugs back onto the American patient. In the end, this arrangement may only benefit PhRMA.

Americans under 65 still paying premium prices at the cost of their health

The high price of prescription drugs for Americans under 65 is playing an increasingly greater role in the future of the healthcare system. These Americans are not only being prescribed medications more than ever before, but the number of prescription drugs per patient has increased, as has the period of time for which the medication is administered. This increased use and spending has largely centered on the elderly because of its implications with medicare prescription drug benefits.

Prescription drug costs are a concern to the health and welfare under-65 population as un or under insured patients may forgo other medical treatments to afford the drugs. It’s clear that those lacking drug benefits is a form of underinsurance: non-elderly adults who have health insurance but minimal or no prescription drug benefit are exposed to exorbitant out-of-pocket costs and crushing medical bills. Whether this group of Americans are uninsured or underinsured, being without insurance increases the likelihood of going without prescription drugs or going into debt to make do. These prescription drug costs and the way that they affect non-elderly adults is only one part of the problem, as the non-subsidized medicines tend to eat away at a patient’s ability to afford other life saving medical treatments and follow up care.

PhRMA Fights Back with Lobbyists and Excuses

Drug firms claim that they are driving costs to prepare for lost revenue as popular drugs’ patent protections expire. By hiking prices, PhRMA will be trying to keep their profits up.

The pharmaceutical industry is working overtime to make sure that the general public is unable to address this increasing inflation, especially as tens of millions of currently uninsured Americans begin to enroll in healthcare plans and effectively give PhRMA companies new business.

As the Affordable Care Act was being vetted by legislators, thousands of lobbyists working on behalf of the pharmaceutical companies flooded Capitol Hill, to ensure that big PhRMA would continue to profit. Figures show that the industry spent $188 million on lobbying in 2009 alone and also spent $67 million on TV ads in support of the Affordable Care Act bill, accounting for a quarter of total advertising behind the legislation.

To make up for the costs associated with this heavy lobbying and advertising, the pharmaceutical industry has steadily been raising drug prices. The AARP Public Policy Institute’s most recent Rx Price Watch Report analyzing retail price trends found that ahead of healthcare reform, retail prices for 217 brand-name prescription drugs widely used by Medicare beneficiaries increased by an average of 8.3 percent in 2009. This increase was notably higher than the rates of increase for retail prices in the prior five years.

For those taking drugs for a chronic condition, the study found that the average retail cost of brand-name medications in 2005 – the year before Medicare Part D was implemented – was $1,049. By 2009, that number had jumped approximately 32 percent to $1,382.

Over time, the cumulative effect of these retail price increases will be substantial. In fact, the AARP study concisely outlines the scary facts many Americans are facing, stating, “the recently passed health care reform legislation has provisions that are designed to phase out the Medicare Part D coverage gap through discounts on brand name, biologic and generic prescription drugs. Part D enrollees will continue to be exposed to the effects of the doughnut hole until the legislation’s provisions are fully implemented in 2020. However, the value of closing the doughnut hole, while potentially substantial, could be eroded over the years if escalating drug prices are not addressed.”

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More and more Americans are turning away from “big-box” pharmacy chains and are utilizing independent community pharmacies and online or mail-order alternatives like licensed, regulated Canadian Pharmacies.

NCPA is dedicated to the continuing growth and prosperity of independent community pharmacies in the United States, while lowering prescription costs for patients.

A recent survey released by the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) found that independent community pharmacies in the United States are reducing healthcare and prescription costs for patients by encouraging generic drug use and offering patient counseling services.

The NCPA, which represents the interests of America’s community pharmacists, released the survey in the 2011 NCPA Digest. The organization is committed to maximizing the appropriate use of lower-cost generic drugs and reducing the billions of dollars that are wasted each year by improper medication use.

While the survey revealed that the number of total independent community pharmacies decreased slightly from 23,117 to 23,064 during 2010, these pharmacies set a new high in generic drug use, increasing their “generic dispensing rate” from 69 percent to 72 percent. Since generic drugs typically cost 20 percent to 80 percent less than their brand-name equivalents, this practice helps Americans significantly save on their prescription costs.

Online Pharmacies Can Slash Prescription Cost

Americans are also turning to mail-order or online pharmacies as a way to save on the costs of their prescription medications. PharmacyChecker, the leading online source for finding the best drug prices for online pharmacies can help consumers find the lowest posted prices.

At a recent Senate hearing, Herb Kohl (D-Wi), Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, cited research that US drug prices are up to 30% higher than other industrialized countries, including Canada.

Beyond their more budget-friendly prescription costs, these independent and online pharmacies are providing enhanced patient counseling on the proper use of medications and tips for fighting diabetes and other common conditions.

Throughout the United States, independent pharmacies dispense more than 37 percent of all retail prescriptions. The number of prescription drugs dispensed under the Medicare Part D program remained steady in 2010, at 30 percent. However, as prescription costs have risen and more people have become eligible for Medicaid, the number of Medicaid prescription drugs dispensed rose from 14 percent to 16 percent in 2010.

How to Lower Prescription Costs – Complete With Free Shipping

More than 75 percent of independent pharmacies also offer home delivery of prescriptions to patients free of charge. Online and mail-order pharmacies deliver via U.S. Postal Service. This convenient niche service further demonstrates how many of these pharmacies and their employees are working to provide their patients with high-quality service along with access to medications and knowledge to lower their prescription costs.

Cancer victims and their families are finding new hope through the innovative advances, high cost prescription medications, surgical techniques and other medical innovations – but at a high price.

How Prescription Costs Are Having A Devastating Effect On The Wallets Of Cancer Patients

While new drugs, surgical techniques and other innovations have improved outcomes for people battling cancer, these advances have also come with substantial prices increases in recent years, even for people with health insurance and plans to help them with prescription costs.

The AHRQ is the lead U.S. agency charged with improving the quality, safety, efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare for all Americans.

A recent study conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) found that between 2001 and 2008, 13.4 percent of adults younger than 65 who had cancer spent more than 20 percent of their income on healthcare, including premiums. That compared with 9.7 percent of people with other chronic conditions and only 4.4 percent of those with no chronic conditions. The AHRQ is the lead U.S. agency charged with improving the quality, safety, efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare for all Americans.

Further research from Duke University Medical Center and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute determined that the out-of-pocket prescription costs for cancer patients averaged $712 per month.

Apart from insurance premiums, the largest portion of that expense went to prescription costs, which averaged $174. The National Institute of Health estimated that in 2010, the overall, direct medical costs of cancer in the United States were $102.8 billion.

These high treatment and prescription costs, coupled with soaring insurance premiums, can have a devastating effect on the cancer patients’ financial well-being.

If you’re fighting cancer and having a hard time covering your prescription costs, experts at the non-profit organization Cancer Support Community recommend that you speak with your pharmacist, healthcare team and insurance company representative about ways to cut expenses. Be sure to ask about co-pays, generic alternatives and mail-order options to curb high prescription costs.

If you’re between the ages of 25 and 55, you may find yourself providing care for your aging parents and your own children at the same time. People in this group are often called the “sandwich generation” because they’re wedged between dual caregiving responsibilities.

The sandwich generation keeps getting larger, and a national study conducted for the AARP shows that nearly 70 percent of Baby Boomers are assuming these dual caregiving responsibilities. Although millions of sandwich generation members are coping with the demands of caregiving, they often have concerns about the rising costs of healthcare and prescription costs, all for themselves, their children and their parents.

photo credit: dyniss

Your parent may be listed as a dependent, for tax purposes. This will allow you to deduct all of the healthcare and prescription costs you pay for. These deductions may include medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. Qualifying expenses include nursing home costs, in-home healthcare, dental and vision care, and prescription costs.

First, there are tax breaks for the sandwich generation who are helping their parents with their expenses, including healthcare and prescription costs. According to Reuters, you can claim your aging parent as a dependent, even if he or she doesn’t live with you. If your mom is in a nursing home or assisted living facility and you provide more than half of her financial support, she qualifies as a dependent.

Once your parent is a dependent, all of his or her healthcare and prescription costs become yours, for the purpose of deducting them on your tax return. The deduction applies to medical expenses that exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income, and qualifying expenses include nursing home costs, in-home healthcare, dental and vision care, and prescription costs. Along with the deductions claimed for your child, these moves can save families thousands of dollars each year on their tax bill.

Beyond tax breaks, you can also speak with the doctors who treat you and your family members about federal, state and private patient assistance programs that are designed to help patients of all ages cut their prescription costs.

A large portion of Americans – as many as one in five – don’t take the medications their doctor has prescribed because they can’t afford the prescription high cost, according to a recent survey of people visiting an urban emergency room conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.

The results, which were published in the journal “Academic Emergency Medicine,” show that more than 20 percent of those surveyed said they had previously not taken a prescribed medication on account of the high prescription cost. Another 5 percent of those surveyed said they were worried they might not be able to pay for medications in the future.

These concerns over prescription costs have also led to a growing number of people walking away from their prescriptions at the pharmacy counter.

A Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solutions review of 80 million insurance claims data that this so-called abandonment – when a patient doesn’t purchase or pick up a prescription that was filled and packaged by a pharmacist – was up 55 percent in the second quarter of 2010, compared with four years earlier.

Officials from Wolters Kluwer say this trend is being driven in part by rising co-pays for many drugs and increasing enrollment in high-deductible insurance plans that require patients to pay high out-of-pocket costs before insurance kicks in. The average co-pay for brand-name drugs like Lipitor rose to $28 a prescription in 2010, an 87 percent increase from 2000, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

For other medications, both generic and brand name, the prescription costs’ co-pays can be as high as $100.

Many medical experts have long considered prescription drug use to be immune to financial pressures since people get sick regardless of the strength of the economy. However, growing evidence has shown that prescription costs have increasingly become a major factor as millions of Americans struggle to make ends meet during the recession.

Americans Are Cutting Corners To Reduce Medical & Prescription Cost

photo credit: Steve Snodgrass

48 percent of Americans reported that they choose not to fill prescriptions, took less medicine than their high cost prescription medication or passed on a medical test recommended by their doctor.

According to the survey, 48 percent of the consumers polled who take at least one medication said they didn’t fill their prescriptions, took less medicine than the prescribed dose or failed to undergo a medical test recommended by their doctor. That is 9 percent higher than the 49 percent reported in 2010 by the annual survey.

The survey of adults also found that one in six American households and one in four with incomes less than $50,000 told Consumer Reports that they felt stress over how much they must spend on healthcare and prescription costs.

Additional answers from the survey show that many healthcare professionals do not realize that so many of their patients are having trouble paying for drugs or medical care. The responses show that only 5 percent of Americans found out about prescription costs at the doctor’s office, while 64 percent were told of prescription costs by their pharmacists.

The survey found that the use of generic prescription medications increased to 75 percent of the prescriptions filled, compared to 73 percent in 2010. Despite this increase, 39 percent of the Americans who responded said they didn’t know that generic medications meet the same federal standards on safety and effectiveness and contain the same active ingredient as their brand-name counterpart. More than 40 percent also said their doctors only sometimes or never recommended a generic medication though these prescription costs may be lower for their patients.

The role played by pharmaceutical companies’ advertising in medication decisions is evident in the responses given – 18 percent of those surveyed said they asked their doctor to prescribe a drug they saw advertised. Of those patients, 70 percent said their doctor then wrote the prescription for the medication.

With many Americans still reeling from the recession, expensive prescription costs can be a real budget buster if you’re trying to stretch your money.

With a little bit of research and work, you can discover tremendous savings when buying your monthly prescriptions.

To rein in your prescription costs, first consider having a discussion with your physician. Your doctor might not be as concerned as you are about the high cost of your medications or might not realize that the prescriptions are causing you financial concerns. Let your physician know that you prefer generic or equivalent older medications that come with much lower prescription costs at the pharmacy.

Purchase Your High Cost Prescriptions In Bulk To Save

Another way to save is by purchasing your medication in bulk. It’s more expensive for pharmacies to process small quantities of pills, and this cost is then passed on to you. You can reduce your out-of-pocket prescription costs by asking your doctor to write you a prescription for a 90-day supply of your medication.

You can also cut costs by splitting pills in half. Ask your physician to prescribe a higher dosage than you currently take, then split these pills in half. By combining this measure with a 90-day prescription, you can get 180 days of medication for the price of one co-pay. Just remember: it’s not safe to divide all medications, so ask your doctor or pharmacist before trying this.

Shop Online & Lower Your Prescription Costs

Price shopping on the web is another great way to save on prescription costs. You can find deals on both name-brand and generic medications that can save you anywhere from 10 to 80 percent over brick-and-mortar pharmacies. PharmacyChecker.com is a useful resource to find the best drug prices from reputable, verified online pharmacies.

While you’re online, it’s also a good idea to explore pharmaceutical manufacturer websites. Many companies offer exclusive coupons and allow people who have no prescription drug coverage or cannot afford their prescriptions to enroll in patient assistance programs that provide free or low-cost medications.

With just a little work, and a little research, you save on your prescription costs.

The economy is driving millions of Americans to tighten their belts to save money, and many are feeling the squeeze when it comes to healthcare and prescription costs.

One of the easiest, most effective ways to slash your prescription costs is by choosing generic medications over their name-brand counterparts.

Generic prescriptions can help you cut prescription costs, often by 30-80%

A generic medication is a copy of a name-brand medication.
photo credit: anolobb

Today, there are generic versions for about half of all the prescription drugs that are on the market.

Every year, as patents run out, more generics also become available. By law, all generic medications must have the same active ingredients as the name-brand versions they copy. They must also be the same strength and work the same way as the name-brand drugs.

Slash Your Prescription Costs By Up To 80%

The biggest difference between generics and name-brand medications is their prescription cost – generics typically cost 30 to 80 percent less than their counterparts. Generics also have different names and look different, but they don’t affect the quality of the drug.

If you pay a flat-fee co-pay when purchasing your prescription, the co-pay is lower with generic medication. If you pay a co-pay that’s based on the full cost of the drug, such as a 30 percent co-pay, you’ll also save money on your prescription costs by choosing the generic version.

Oftentimes, the full cost of a brand-name drug is about three times the cost of the generic version. If you don’t have prescription drug insurance money and pay out-of-pocket for your medications, you’ll save even more with generic medications.

The next time you’re discussing your medications with your physician or pharmacist, be sure to ask about generics. If there is no generic version of the brand-name drug you take, ask if a generic version in the same class of drugs would work as well as the brand-name drug.

By simply asking these simple question you can easily reduce your prescription costs.

Tamiflu is a high cost prescription medication that’s used for the prevention or treatment of the flu. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of Tamiflu in adults and children 1 year of age and older.

In order for Tamiflu to be effective in treating the flu, it must be taken within one to two days of the start of flu symptoms. For preventative measures, Tamiflu must also be started as soon as possible after exposure to the flu.

In recent years, outbreaks of the bird flu and swine flu caused a huge demand for Tamiflu across the United States. This demand also causes the prescription cost of Tamiflu to soar.

Many Americans turn to licensed and accredited online Canadian Pharmacies to purchase Tamiflu at prices much lower than in the U.S.

If you’re suffering from flu symptoms, you should call your doctor right away to discuss whether Tamiflu right for you.

Some of the most common symptoms are:

• fever
• aches
• chills
• headache
• sore throat
• and nausea.

While evaluating your symptoms, your doctor can also talk to you about what you can expect regarding the prescription cost of Tamiflu.

In treatment studies, adult flu patients who took Tamiflu within 48 hours of experiencing symptoms recovered 30 percent, or 32 hours, faster than those who didn’t take the medication. Tamiflu works by attacking the flu virus inside the body, thus preventing it from spreading.

Tamiflu comes in either liquid or capsule form. It should be taken once or twice a day, depending on your doctor’s instructions. Medical professionals also recommend that Tamiflu be taken at the same time each day to maintain an even level of the medication in your blood. Make sure that you complete your entire prescription of Tamiflu, even if you start feeling better before you’ve finished it. This will ensure that the flu has been completely treated.