1 In 6 Chronically Ill Adults Skip Rx Drugs Due To Cost

[kerouac]

One In 6 Chronically Ill Adults Skip Rx Drugs Due To Cost

October 2004 - A recent nationally representative survey of older adults finds that 18 percent of those with chronic conditions such as heart disease and depression skip some of their prescription medicines because of out-of-pocket cost pressures, and 14 percent do so at least every month.

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"We found that many patients go without drugs that relieve serious symptomatic conditions such as back pain or ulcers, while others skipped drugs that are life-sustaining, such as blood pressure and cholesterol drugs, but that might not cause any noticeable difference in day-to-day functioning," says lead author John D. Piette, a VA Career Scientist and associate professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School.

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Those who didn't have insurance were the least likely to be able to afford out-of-pocket payments for drugs: Respondents who had incomes under $20,000 a year were more than twice as likely to be without drug coverage than those making more than $60,000 a year.

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Full text:
http://thediabeticnews.com/news/658.shtml

[necso]

1. I imagine that

this leaves out the folks who don't go to the doctor in the first place, because of cost (or whatever).

[MaryH]

2. They may be better off

at the rate those drugs are being pulled from the market because no one bothered to do proper long-term testing on them. And the side effects could kill you before your disease would.

[necso]

5. Certainly

"health care" has become a money making machine -- with the drug companies in the driver's seat.

And this alone is reason for "healthy" skepticism.

[MaryH]

16. I have become plain paranoid.

How do you know?

The doctors give out stuff like it is candy.

The drug companies are in cahoots with the FDA and the Bush adm.

Look at all the years women were told to take hormones - and no long term tests had been done. Millions of women were simply test subjects.

Now we find out that all kinds of the most popular drugs haven't been tested for long-term damage.

Or like Vioxx - the FDA tried to keep the results in the shade.

This is just great!

[diamond14]

3. people with type 1 Diabetes will DIE, which is what bush* wants...

if all the people with type 1 Diabetes DIE, then there is more money for bush* and his disease-profiteers like bill frist, who are making a profit off those with chronic incurable diseases.....


YOU probably know someone with type 1 diabetes (childhood diabetes)...and that person is probably suffering horribly as YOU walk away or try to ignore YOUR responsibilities to take action: call YOUR congressional representatives TODAY...write letters, make phone calls, protest...STAND UP...don't let bush* KILL people with chronic diseases....

first they came for those with mental illnesses, and YOU did nothing...then they came for those with physical disabilities, and YOU did nothing, then they came for the chronically ill, and YOU did nothing....and then...and then....they came for YOU.....

[salvorhardin]

6. As someone with a chronic illness

and is at least partly disabled I can tell you it's really rough.

I run a small hosting and development business but I simply can not work full time. If I could afford someone to come in and help out with things that I either can't do or it takes me forever to do I could work outside the home -- if there were jobs in this area.

Fortunately my only prescription is $8 a month so I'm not hurting there, but I know of plenty of people whose prescriptions come to hundreds of dollars a month (that would include diabetics too).

Sometimes I wonder if the Bushies aren't secret eugenicists because they sure seem to be trying to kill off all the poor and disabled. I *know* they're social darwinists -- does anyone know if they favor eugenics?

[SoCalDem]

9. Prescott did, but back then a LOT of people actually thought

eugenics was a good idea..:eyes:..

I can remember actually studying it in junior high, when we studied science.. :shrug:..

I rememebr thinking back then, that this was some scary stuff..

[amazona]

13. yes I know someone who is likely to lose his leg

And he isn't that old. He can't work and was told he now has to kick in $1,000 toward his medicine each year. He just doesn't have $1,000. He lives in a trailer and never had anything because of the diabetes and multiple other diseases. People who have severe disease from childhood and were never able to work don't even have social security, since they don't have 40 quarters in the system. What are these folks supposed to do?

[SoCalDem]

4. $20K vs $60 K??? What a no-brainer...

"Older" folks with a paid-for home and $60K income should be on easy street.. Under $20K, paid-for house or not, are in deep doo-doo...

Articles like this annoy me somewhat.. The facts they cite are so self-evident, it's almost funny..

People have to have a roof over their heads, and food.. If those 2 items eat up 75% of your income, and there are two people needing meds (as most elderly couples are), there's just not enough money "left over".. It's just that simple..

[Warpy]

7. Old folks aren't the only ones

People with chronic illnesses have been systematically weeded off insurance rolls for a very long time.

I lost my insurance in 1987. I have no hope of getting it back.

[SoCalDem]

8. I hear you.. My husband is now 61, and whenever he "retires",

I am screwed.. I do not work, and only have coverage through him and his job..

I am terrible at taking medicine anyway, so I am kind of hoping for the "drop-dead-in-my-tracks" option..:(

[Karenina]

15. LOVE trumps "mere facts"

And this poster loves you very much. :hug:

[RimskyZoi]

10. I know it's happening to us....

I know I do that. And DH and I are fairly well off too. But, we have a LOT of expenses, and with $30 bucks here, $80 bucks there... it all adds up sooooo quickly.

So, if it's affecting US, I can only imagine what people who are making less money are going through. It ain't good, that's for sure!

[SoCalDem]

11. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[amazona]

12. yeah I've done that

Even with insurance co-pays are so high now and it seems nothing I'm prescribed is ever covered unless it's for a non-chronic condition (flu, pneumonia) so what do you do? Even herbs are too expensive!

[luaneryder]

14. The rural seniors

I used to work with fought this constantly. Food or medicine, which one could they afford this month.

[demgrrrll]

17. There are 3 drugs that are given to MS patients which

decrease MS relapses. Medicare offered a "lottery" that MS patients had to enter by September 30th to see if they would "win" the ability to purchase the drug at a lesser cost and then continue with the drug on a very low to no cost basis. A fricken LOTTERY for a medication that holds major symptoms at bay. Ridiculous.

[crossroads]

18. This is a pitiful record for the worlds richest country! We CAN do better

:dem: