{"id":1363,"date":"2007-10-04T05:00:22","date_gmt":"2007-10-04T12:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/2007\/10\/04\/an-expert-tip-for-saving-on-prescription-drugs\/"},"modified":"2018-11-21T19:38:04","modified_gmt":"2018-11-22T03:38:04","slug":"an-expert-tip-for-saving-on-prescription-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/an-expert-tip-for-saving-on-prescription-drugs\/","title":{"rendered":"An Expert Tip for Saving on Prescription Drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i><b>This article was written by Shiva<\/b>, who wrote to offer some advice on how to shop for prescription medicine: don&#8217;t assume that the new new stuff is better!<\/i><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/flattop341\/240694992\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"photo by flattop341\" src=\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/perscription.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"188\" align=\"right\" hspace=\"5\" vspace=\"3\" \/><\/a>I am a general internist \u2014 a physician\u00a0who provides primary care to adult patients \u2014 and am on the faculty of a medical school, where I teach\u00a0medical students and residents. One of my interests is\u00a0the excess marketing and use of\u00a0expensive yet marginally effective\u00a0prescription drugs.<\/p>\n<p>I have found in clinical practice that the most effective medications tend to actually be &#8220;tried and true&#8221; ones approved over\u00a0ten years ago with thousands of\u00a0patient years of post marketing safety and efficacy data\u00a0available. Rarely is the latest the greatest.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately (this is hard for me to admit),\u00a0my profession\u00a0has been overrun by the pharmaceutical\u00a0industry \u2014 you are\u00a0very likely to be prescribed expensive brand name medications that are no more effective (in some cases less\u00a0effective and\/or less safe) than older, cheaper, and more thoroughly studied medications.<\/p>\n<p>Here are two websites I recently found from Consumer Reports and Public Citizen that summarize the costs and benefits of\u00a0various drugs prescribed for common conditions. They do it better than most\u00a0reviews in the medical literature:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i>Consumer Reports<\/i> Best Buy Drugs \u2014 &#8220;Free guidance for consumers on prescription medications.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.worstpills.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">worstpills.org<\/a> \u2014 &#8220;Your expert, independent second opinion for prescription drug information.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While physicians should be looking out for their patients regarding out-of-pocket costs, the reality is most\u00a0physicians don&#8217;t even know\u00a0ball-park prices of the medications we\u00a0prescribe.<\/p>\n<p>Given the underinsured status of many\u00a0Americans \u2014 especially related to pharmacy benefits \u2014 meeting your doctor armed with information about the relative cost-effectiveness of the drugs for your condition\u00a0is essential for both\u00a0your physical and financial health. And in\u00a0terms of drug advertising, I recommend ignoring the magazine, newspaper, and television ads. We can all become &#8220;branded&#8221; within the blink of an eye. Don&#8217;t let the flashy advertising dollars sell you on what&#8217;s best for your health.<\/p>\n<p><i><b>Remember:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/whats-the-cure-for-the-high-cost-of-prescriptions\/\">Check for coupons and rebates before having your prescriptions filled<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><i><b>This article was written by Shiva<\/b>, who wrote to offer some advice on how to shop for prescription medicine: don&#8217;t assume that the new new stuff is better!<\/i><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/flattop341\/240694992\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"photo by flattop341\" src=\"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/perscription.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"188\" align=\"right\" hspace=\"5\" vspace=\"3\" \/><\/a>I am a general internist \u2014 a physician\u00a0who provides primary care to adult patients \u2014 and am on the faculty of a medical school, where I teach\u00a0medical students and residents. One of my interests is\u00a0the excess marketing and use of\u00a0expensive yet marginally effective\u00a0prescription drugs.<\/p>\n<p>I have found in clinical practice that the most effective medications tend to actually be &#8220;tried and true&#8221; ones approved over\u00a0ten years ago with thousands of\u00a0patient years of post marketing safety and efficacy data\u00a0available. Rarely is the latest the greatest.<\/p>\n<p>Unfo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[485],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}