Show 1046: How to Save Money on Prescription Drugs
The People's Pharmacy
Joe and Terry Graedon
4.6 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 11 August 2016
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Prescription medications cost more in the US than anywhere else in the world. What’s behind the high cost of these drugs? How are insurance companies and other payers coping with costs? Is there any way to save money on a prescription?
How Can You Save Money on Your Prescriptions?
With the price of medicines rising much faster than the general rate of inflation, smart strategies to shop for prescriptions are essential. Generic drugs were supposed to be the lifeline to economical prescriptions, but even those have risen remarkably in price. Get tips on how you can save money on your medicines from Lisa Gill of Best Buy Drugs at Consumer Reports. The websites she mentioned are GoodRx.com and BlinkHealth.com.
Vinay Prasad, MD, describes how critical treatments such as those for cancer or hepatitis C came to cost so much. He has objected to the superlatives used to promote these medications to physicians as well as to the public (JAMA Oncology, Jan., 2016).
This Week’s Guests:
Lisa Gill is deputy content editor of Best Buy Drugs for Consumer Reports. The website is www.consumerreports.org/cro/health/prescription-drugs/best-buy-drugs/index.htm
The article, Is There a Cure for High Drug Prices? was published in the August 2016 issue of Consumer Reports.
Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH, is assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology Oncology in the Knight Cancer Institute. He is also a senior scholar in the Center for Health Care Ethics in the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Oregon Health and Sciences University.
His website is http://www.vinayakkprasad.com/ Dr. Prasad is co-author, with Adam Cifu, MD, of the book, Ending Medical Reversal: Improving Outcomes, Saving Lives.
Listen to the Podcast:
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Joe Graydon. |
| 0:02.3 | I'm Terry Graydon. |
| 0:03.8 | Welcome to this podcast of the People's Pharmacy, where we bring you the stories behind the health headlines. |
| 0:10.2 | This podcast is brought to you by Redux Industries, makers of utterly smooth body cream. |
| 0:16.0 | 800-345-7339 on the web at utter cream.com. |
| 0:29.7 | The cost of prescription medications has been skyrocketing. |
| 0:34.2 | Drugs for hepatitis C and cancer now cost tens of thousands of dollars. |
| 0:38.9 | This is the People's Pharmacy with Terry and Joe Graydon. |
| 0:46.9 | What is driving the high cost of prescription drugs? |
| 0:52.8 | Even some generic medications are becoming prohibitively expensive. |
| 0:57.2 | Is this trend sustainable? |
| 0:59.0 | What do cancer researchers think about the ever-escalating cost of new immunotherapy medicines? |
| 1:05.3 | Consumer Reports has published an article titled Is There a Cure for High Drug Prices? |
| 1:11.1 | We'll talk with Lisa Gill of Consumer Reports about strategies to save money in the drugstore. |
| 1:16.9 | Coming up on the People's Pharmacy, Vinay Prasad offers his perspective on the cost of cancer medications. |
| 1:24.8 | First, this news. |
| 1:29.0 | In the People's Pharm health headlines, your drinking water might be contaminated. |
| 1:35.0 | Harvard researchers have identified dangerous compounds in the PFAS class in the drinking |
| 1:41.4 | water of 6 million Americans. |
| 1:43.9 | These chemicals, including polyfluoro-alkal and |
| 1:47.3 | perfluoroalkal, have been used in clothing, non-stick cookware, and food wrappers for six |
| 1:53.5 | decades. Even those that are no longer being used in industrial processes persist in the environment |
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