Prescription Discounts Help Seniors Save

By Author: Kaycee Bishop
Total Articles: 24
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With the staggering costs of medicines, some seniors are not able to take the appropriate dosage of their medicines. Some skip their intake while some are forced to cut their pills into half to save it. But thank God for prescription discounts, seniors are now able to afford their needed medications and more good news is that they are also able to save.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced that about 4 million of US elders were able to find great advantages in purchasing prescriptions through discount cards. This even allowed them to save an approximate $2.16 billion in 2011. Actually, they are not the only ones who will benefit from it. In the long run, the government is also expected to gain from it wherein they can keep their spending on Medicare lower in the future.

With discounted medicine prices, people will not be compelled to stop their medications just because they cannot afford it. When seniors are able to take the right medicines at the right dosage in the right time, they will be able to prevent certain diseases and conditions such as heart attacks, low blood sugar, and asthma ...
... attacks. Therefore, they can also avoid resulting circumstances that require them to shed more money like being hospitalized or undergoing through an operation or surgery. As the old saying goes, prevention is better than cure.

The 2010 health care law played a major role in lowering drug costs wherein it called for a 50% discount on prescriptions in the doughnut hole. Aside from this, the existing prescription discounts offered by pharmacies, department stores, and pharmaceutical companies also made an important contribution in the reduction of drug costs and savings for seniors.

The USA Today article also showed the list of drug cost savings outlining the type of drugs or for what conditions did the Medicare beneficiaries were able to save. The biggest savings was seen in medications for blood sugar amounting to $319 million. It was followed by prescriptions on cholesterol wherein the total savings amounted to $280 million. Savings on asthma meds came in third with $243 million. Additionally, the report also indicated the inclusion of drugs for mental health conditions in the top 10 list of savings for seniors. Drugs for cancer came at the bottom of the list but were able to deliver savings amounting to $74 million dollars. This is a very notable finding as the ability to take the appropriate medicines for prevention can help patients avoid most costly treatment and hospitalization.

This discount which is a part of the Affordable Care Act proved its advantages. The drugs in the top 10 list are mostly maintenance for chronic diseases. If people will be able to afford it, they can avoid more expensive costs. As millions of Americans try to avoid the increasing medication costs, more of them will be needing discounts provided by law and even the prescription discounts offered by other resources such as pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies. This can lower recurrent monthly medicine costs and help everyone save money.