We would like to have a heart to heart talk about prescription prices. We understand the fact that if you don’t take or can’t afford your medications then all of our work is for naught. We can’t keep you healthy if you don’t take your medications. The price of prescription meds keeps escalating out of control. We have Medicare patients in the donut hole in April. The pharmaceutical companies are unrelenting in raising their prices every year. So what is the answer? We can’t control what the drug companies do and our present government doesn’t seem overly concerned about the little guys like our patients. So this is our pledge to you.
1. We promise to prescribe the most cost efficient,effective medication that we can. We try to use generics when we can but now even they are rising in price. Medications that have been around for years costing pennies are now costing dollars.
2. Unfortunately many medications we use such as most insulin and inhaled asthma meds are not generic. This is tricky because these are life saving medications but very expensive. We will try to work with the drug companies to get samples or enroll you in programs if you need and can’t afford the medications. Please tell us if there is a financial concern instead of not taking the medications.
3. Many of our patients have inadequate or high co-pay plans which means a large cash outlay by patients before your plan kicks in. Even when it does kick in, it may only pay for some of the med costs. There is a new app for your phone called BLINK HEALTH. You download the app and enroll. This company has negotiated with drug makers (most generic and some branded medication) to save you up to 95% of the medication cost. If you have a cell phone and know how to download an app please look into this . The link is below to read about Blink.
http://www.businessinsider.com/blink-health-prescriptions-s…
We believe companies like this will come to the forefront to help us out with medication costs.
4. Most advertisements that you see on television are new and very expensive but may not be the best medication for you. There usually are cheaper generics that can do the same thing. Think about the cost of advertising those medications and who do you think is paying for them.
5. We will do our best to help you with your medications. We need your help to let us know if you can’t take or can’t afford your meds. We are very sensitive to this and would like to help you out any way we can. Studies show that up to 50% of patients are not taking their meds as directed for various reasons.
Thanks for checking in on Facebook and we will hopefully see you soon in the office!
Dr. Cohen, Natalie, and Biana