In terms of people cutting back on prescriptions because of the cost, a doctor told me one time that many prescriptions cost less at the higher dosage. For instance, a 50 mg tablet costs much less than two 25 mg tablets, and that for many of those medicines, cutting them in half will work.
(Clearly this won't work for capsules or for drugs that are time-released.)
If you take a prescription that's in any kind of tablet form, it's worth asking about. Could a higher dosage split in two actually save your money? Your doctor or your pharmacist will know.
There are some cautions -- and some doctors think that unless the pills are split perfectly, a dosage may not be exact. But they admit that the scored lines on pills are for precisely this purpose. And two large HMOs are encouraging their patients to think along these lines to help save money.
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In terms of people cutting back on prescriptions because of the cost, a doctor told me one time that many prescriptions cost less at the higher dosage. For instance, a 50 mg tablet costs much less than two 25 mg tablets, and that for many of those medicines, cutting them in half will work.
(Clearly this won't work for capsules or for drugs that are time-released.)
If you take a prescription that's in any kind of tablet form, it's worth asking about. Could a higher dosage split in two actually save your money? Your doctor or your pharmacist will know.
There are some cautions -- and some doctors think that unless the pills are split perfectly, a dosage may not be exact. But they admit that the scored lines on pills are for precisely this purpose. And two large HMOs are encouraging their patients to think along these lines to help save money.
Here's a good article on pill-splitting:
http://www.healthyplace.com/communities/depression/treatment/antidepressants/pill_splitting_2.asp
And here's the note about the HMOs:
http://www.elderweb.com/home/node/1003
December 25, 2008 - 6:00pmThis Comment
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