Pharmaceuticals

An announcement this week of long available prescription drug that has been pulled off the market - Darvon/Darvocet got me thinking about the cost of prescription drugs. A little research and I found that 90% of elderly Americans and 58% of adults rely on prescription drugs for some sort of malady. I don't know about you but that's astonishing to me from a health perspective and even more astonishing from a cost perspective. I can tell you that the number one factor in health insurance costs are the costs of prescription drugs. Most companies offering individual health insurance will increase rates on an applicant for any prescription drug currently being taken on a regular basis. Taking three or more prescription drugs and it may be difficult to obtain coverage. I had a client that was a Cancer survivor for over 5 years. When applying for health insurance coverage the insurance carriers ignored the Cancer when considering premium increase yet almost doubled the premium for the combination of high blood pressure (HBP), high cholesterol and anti-depressant meds.