Jewish
artments
services
meds or maybe skip meals. It's not
difficult to guess what the result will
be at her next medical appointment.
Prescriptions cost! Spending on pre-
scription drugs rose to .$131.9 billion
in 2000 from $111.1 billion in 1999,
according to a report by the National
Institute for Health Care
Management, a nonprofit group
funded in part by health-insurance
providers.
Much of the increase was driven by
a shift to newer, more expensive prod-
ucts. Half of the increase occurred
among eight types of drugs, with
those for high cholesterol, depression
and arthritis in the lead.
Mayer Gluzman, a piano technician
in West Bloomfield, has prescription
coverage with Blue Cross/Blue Shield,
but he still pays over $400 a month to
his local pharmacy. "I could have
gone with an insurance plan, which
covered more of the prescription
costs, but then the premiums cost
more so I'm not ahead."
Shirlee Rosin and her late husband,
Harold, spent over $5,000 a year in
prescription costs alone. "One of our
prescriptions was for a two-week sup-
ply of 14 pills that cost $237 — and
that was with insurance."
The average costs of prescription
medicine have skyrocketed over the
past few years. "Part of the problem is
that doctors and patients are often
requesting the newest drug for a par-
ticular condition. The new drugs are
the most expensive when an older, less
expensive alternative would do just as
well," explains Dave Efros of Efros-
Savon Drugs in West Bloomfield.
"We are bombarded with TV and
I
media ads for the purple pill,
Nexium, for heartburn and acid
reflex. Nexium is $4.50 a pill. Zantac,
which has been around for some time,
costs 20 cents a pill," he says.
Efros has been a pharmacist for
more than 30 years and understands
that pharmaceutical companies need
to recover their research and develop-
ment costs for a new drug and show a
profit to shareholders. "By the same
token, the pharmaceuticals spend mil-
lions on advertising and on perks for
physicians, ranging from dinners to
cruises and vacations often thinly dis-
guised as continuing education semi-
nars," he says: "There are ways to cut
costs."
Rosalie Lieberman, a licensed health
underwriter, says, "Making matters
even worse is the health maintenance
organizations have limited the drugs
that are covered in your insurance
plan. The physician has to call the
HMO if she wants her patient to be
on a drug that's not covered. The end
result is you have someone non-med-
ical telling your physician what she
can and cannot do."
Southfield-based Jewish Family
Service has a small program that helps
pay for a client's medication, food and
utilities. "Prescription costs are going
up, but the income of the elderly stays
the same," says Debra Edwards, JFS'
assistant director of senior services
and administrator of the financial
resource program.
"There's no one easy answer," she •
says, "and there's no one major fund-
ing source. For instance, the state has
an emergency prescription program
[EPIC], but its funding activities are
Ways to lower prescription costs:
• Explore your options — you're not necessarily stuck.
• Shop around for the drugstore that gives you good service and good
'icing.
Ask the pharmacist: Is there a less expensive medication that works
me way as the prescribed medication and does the same thing?
k your physician for samples.
organizations that have prescription discount programs such as
erican Association of Retired Persons. If you're over 49, AARP
fers discounts on mail-in orders.
e pharmaceutical companies give discounts to people in financial
need. Talk to your physician because the program is carried out through
he physician's office.
• Join a prescription program from Canada. To call Can-Am Rx from
aside Michigan: (877) 226-2630. Can-Am Rx from outside Michigan:
(313) 875-9010.
• Sign up for a Michigan county discount program. Oakland County's
Prescription Savings Program: (866) 731 - 7213.
;
Norma Jean and Edward Meer
Jewish Apartments
6760 West Maple Road
West Bloomfield, MI. 48322
Experience active living at its best in a Jewish communal atmosphere.
Meer II now open, one bedroom units are now
available for you to tour.
Call our leasing office at (248) 788-2883
Join us for all the fun
as we feature Emmy-
nominated Celtic musician—
Kitty Donohoe, musical author of
"There are no Words"—as well as
delicious strawberry desserts!
Sunday, June 23, 2-4 p.m.
at THE FOUNTAINS AT FRANK LI
/-' --N
Call today for more informatio n
or to R.S.V.P
T HE FOUNTAINS
AT FRANKLIN
Retirement Living • Assisted Living • Alzheimer's Care L')
(248) 353-2810
28301 Franklin Road • Southfield, Michigan 48034
www.thefOuntains.com
6/21
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2002
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