How To Save Money On Prescription Drugs, Insured Or Not
Believe it or not, it may be cheaper to pay for a prescription yourself rather than using your insurance. And if that fails, there are other places to turn for help getting the best possible deal.
View ArticlePharmaceutical Firms Back Off Big Price Hikes Following Critical Coverage
New York Times coverage of companies' purchases of generic drugs and subsequent huge increases in their cost led to loud criticism, calls for price caps and falling stock prices.
View ArticleAmericans Are Using More Prescription Drugs; Is Obesity To Blame?
We're a nation of legal drug-takers, with 59 percent of adults using at least one prescription drug. That's up from 50 percent 10 years ago. Increased rates of obesity may be the cause.
View ArticleTreating Prisoners With Hepatitis C May Be Worth The Hefty Price
About 15 percent of people in prison are infected with hepatitis C. Screening and treating inmates would save $750 million over 30 years and prevent many new cases in the general public.
View ArticleSpecialty Drugs Can Prove Expensive Even With Medicare Coverage
Medicare insurance plans for drugs vary widely in the medicines they cover. For 2016, some patients who pick the wrong plan could pay nearly $12,000 out of pocket annually for a single drug.
View ArticleIs Prescription Opioid Abuse A Crime Problem Or A Health Problem?
People still think that abuse of opioid painkillers is something that criminals do, a study of news media coverage finds. Options like expanded access to treatment are rarely mentioned.
View ArticleDrug Cocktails Fuel Massachusetts' Overdose Crisis
A state analysis reveals that the majority of overdose deaths in 2014 came from heroin or prescription opioids taken in combination with cocaine, anti-anxiety medications or alcohol.
View ArticleSenate Questions 'Egregious' Price Hikes For Specialty Medicines
Some companies have bought the patents for old drugs, then abruptly upped the prices — from $13 per pill to $750 in one case. Irate senators call it price gouging.
View ArticleYou Can Buy Insulin Without A Prescription, But Should You?
Versions sold over the counter are based on older formulas and make tight control of blood sugar harder. But they're cheaper and might save a patient with diabetes whose alternative is to go without.
View ArticleFDA Approval Could Turn A Free Drug For A Rare Disease Pricey
Jacobus Pharmaceutical freely gives its experimental drug to patients with a rare disease. Now a rival wants FDA approval to sell its own version — and expects to charge at least $37,500 per year.
View ArticleAnatomy Of Addiction: How Heroin And Opioids Hijack The Brain
Roughly 2.5 million Americans are addicted to heroin and opioids like Oxycontin. Researchers say addiction takes over the brain's limbic reward system, impairing decision making, judgment and memory.
View ArticlePopular Acid Reflux Drugs Are Linked To Kidney Disease Risk
Medications for heartburn called proton pump inhibitors are linked to a higher risk for chronic kidney disease, according to a study. It's the latest in a growing list of worries with these drugs.
View ArticleFight To Lower Drug Prices Forces Some To Switch Medication
Health insurers are trying to spark a price war by refusing to pay for some brand-name medications unless they get a big discount. This forces some people to change their prescriptions.
View ArticleMedicare To Experiment With Tying Drug Costs to Effectiveness
The goal is to rein in drug price increases while increasing the chance that patients will get the medication that works best for them. It's an idea that's getting increasing private-sector traction.
View ArticleDrug-Company Payments Mirror Doctors' Brand-Name Prescribing
An analysis of Medicare data shows that the more money a doctor gets from pharmaceutical companies, the more likely he or she is to prescribe brand-name medications. And that influences cost.
View ArticleInside A Small Brick House At The Heart Of Indiana's Opioid Crisis
Prescription painkiller abuse sparked an HIV outbreak in rural Indiana. Kelly McEvers takes NPR's new podcast, Embedded, inside the home where IV drug users meet.
View ArticlePolitical Gridlock Blocks Missouri Database For Fighting Drug Abuse
Every state except Missouri has a database that doctors can check to see if a person filling a prescription for an opioid is trying to get it from other pharmacies, too.
View ArticleIt's Still Hard To Get Birth Control Pills In California Without A Prescription
California law now permits pharmacists to sell many types of hormonal birth control methods without a doctor's OK. But good luck finding a drugstore that will dispense the contraceptives that way.
View ArticleMore Generics And Negotiating Leverage Could Slow Medicare Drug Spending
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission told Congress that rising drug costs helped push Medicare Part D spending up nearly 60 percent between 2007 and 2014. There are options to contain spending.
View ArticleAfter Medical Marijuana Legalized, Medicare Prescriptions Drop For Many Drugs
Researchers found that in states with medical marijuana laws on the books, the number of prescriptions dropped for drugs to treat anxiety, depression, nausea, pain, seizures and sleep disorders.
View Article