Tricks patients use to make RX costs affordableA recent national survey showed that most adults below 65 years have a double possibility in relation to senior citizens in the nation to skip recommended dose by the doctor and avoid filling the prescriptions as recommended by doctors in their efforts to save some money. As per the findings of the survey, one of the most popular strategy of cutting cost that 20 percent of the patients employed involved asking for inexpensive drug prescriptions from their doctors. This was concluded after analyzing a research involving 33, 000 respondents who took part in the National Health Interview Survey organized by CDC in 2011. During the year, the cost of drugs purchased out of the pocket recorded the highest mark of $45 billion according to CDC findings.

Essentially, bargaining for cheaper drugs doesn’t put you at any healthy risk. However, the researchers continued to warn that skimping or skipping on recommended medication obviously has its share of consequences which can be serious at times. In most cases, adults who opt not to take the prescribed medication were known to; use the emergency room more frequently, experienced cardiovascular ailments and had multiple hospitalizations after the Center for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed the data they received.

According to the concluded survey

About 24.3 percent of people without health coverage didn’t use the recommended prescriptions in comparison to the 19 percent patients who were privately insured and the 15 percent patients on Medicaid. In addition, adults aged 65 years and below who represented a 12.6 percent had a double likelihood of skipping doses that the seniors as they tried to save more money on their drugs. Also, 10.6 % of the adults below 65 years delayed filling the prescription in comparison to 4.4% of seniors. As the patients tried to save money, 6 % of patients below 65 years considered using alternative treatments in comparison to 2.3 % of seniors. Lastly, 2% of all the respondents in the survey reported to have purchased medicine and drug from foreign countries. However, the study never analyzed the reasons why younger patients had a high likelihood of delaying to obtain their medications or skipping them altogether.

Cost saving alternatives

After being urged by AARP to launch a state prescription drug registry, the administration of Gov. Corzine opened one in 2007 where consumers could contact or access online assistance in comparing prices of the top 150 most popular drugs by geography. The study found it very clear that with increasing expenses; seniors in the nation had no option than to decide on either to pay property tax bills, food, utility bills or medication. Of all these, most people chose to short shrift medication which leaves them searching for cheaper or cost saving alternatives for medications through the help of the registry.