How To Save Thousands On Prescription Medication

Because millions of them cannot afford the prescription drugs they desperately need, seniors and the uninsured poor and disabled are the main focus of this book. This book shows qualified persons the many programs available and how they can obtain free, low-cost, or discounted medications from a variety of these public and private sources. This book is also a "must read" for all patients who require prescription drug therapy whether they are uninsured, under-insured or fully insured to help them maximize the value of the prescription medications they get. This valuable information can be helpful to all of these patients, their doctors and other health-care providers, as well as their other care-givers. Included in this book are numerous tips to help patients save hundreds, even thousands, of dollars in prescription drug costs yearly.

With the pharmaceutical industry spending $8 billion per year on direct marketing to physicians, everyone winds up paying the bill through escalating prescription costs. This handbook gives patients the tools they need to become informed consumers and work with their doctors to reduce their prescription drug regimen expenses. Providing useful tips like eliminating unnecessary medications, resisting samples, substituting generic drugs, and splitting higher-dose tablets, physician Edward Jardini helps patients take charge of their own health, prescriptions, and wallets.

Thanks to remarkable advances in modern health care attributable to science, engineering, and medicine, it is now possible to cure or manage illnesses that were long deemed untreatable. At the same time, however, the United States is facing the vexing challenge of a seemingly uncontrolled rise in the cost of health care. Total medical expenditures are rapidly approaching 20 percent of the gross domestic product and are crowding out other priorities of national importance. The use of increasingly expensive prescription drugs is a significant part of this problem, making the cost of biopharmaceuticals a serious national concern with broad political implications. Especially with the highly visible and very large price increases for prescription drugs that have occurred in recent years, finding a way to make prescription medicinesâ€"and health care at largeâ€"more affordable for everyone has become a socioeconomic imperative. Affordability is a complex function of factors, including not just the prices of the drugs themselves, but also the details of an individual's insurance coverage and the number of medical conditions that an individual or family confronts. Therefore, any solution to the affordability issue will require considering all of these factors together. The current high and increasing costs of prescription drugsâ€"coupled with the broader trends in overall health care costsâ€"is unsustainable to society as a whole. Making Medicines Affordable examines patient access to affordable and effective therapies, with emphasis on drug pricing, inflation in the cost of drugs, and insurance design. This report explores structural and policy factors influencing drug pricing, drug access programs, the emerging role of comparative effectiveness assessments in payment policies, changing finances of medical practice with regard to drug costs and reimbursement, and measures to prevent drug shortages and foster continued innovation in drug development. It makes recommendations for policy actions that could address drug price trends, improve patient access to affordable and effective treatments, and encourage innovations that address significant needs in health care.

Examines the pharmaceutical industry to expose how higher-priced drugs receive favorable treatment and patients are channeled toward the most expensive medicines.

If you want to save up to 50, 70, even 90% on your prescription drug costs, this is the book you need. Stephen S. S. Hyde, founder of Hyde Rx Services Corporation, is the leading authority on low-cost prescription drug benefits, and now he’s offering individual consumers the expertise he provides to America’s employers and health plans. With the simple, cost-saving techniques outlined in this revolutionary book, you can save literally hundreds, even thousands of dollars on your family’s prescription medications. You’ll discover: • The seven questions you should ask your doctor before he writes a prescription • How your pharmacist can save you money • How to get FREE prescription drugs • How to save on generic, over-the-counter, and brand-name drugs • How to get the lowest prices from retail, mail-order, online, and Canadian pharmacies • How you may be eligible for discount cards and other assistance programs • A Special Seniors Medicare Drug Benefit Report, and much more! With an appendix of directories, pharmacies, and websites to get you started, this book will pay for itself with your very first prescription!

James A. Mays is a true renaissance man: poet, scholar, popular novelist, songwriter, cardiologist, and civil leader. His individual achievements are such that he was the recipient of the George Washington Medal. Other notable recipients of this prestigious award are Barbara Jordan and the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Mays has written several songs, one of which, Happy Birthday Mama, was recorded by Bill Cosby. He also co-wrote several songs with H.B Barnum. As an author he is responsible for nine novels, including his latest Trapped, which is in preparation to become a movie. An earlier trilogy, Strivers, is being developed as a miniseries. Dr. Mays is widely recognized as the founder of community problem-solving programs such as the Adopt-A-Family endowment. He is currently involved in several campaigns promoting drug and AIDS awareness and giving assistance to the homeless. He has frequently appeared on television, featuring on shows including The Today Show, The Phil Donahue Show, on radio, such as the Voice of America and has had articles published in LIFE, Newsweek, the Washington Post, the L.A. Times, and Ebony. Dr. Mays, who was decorated as combat physician in Vietnam, is a lone parent with four sons.