Retirement News : Seniors : Down the hatch: Local seniors find escalating prescription prices ...

Down the hatch: Local seniors find escalating prescription prices ...

Date Added: 22-03-2005

Joe Chimera has an expensive drug habit, but he’s not knocking over convenient stores to finance it. Yet. The City of Tonawanda resident takes about 16 prescription drugs a day. Some require just one pill a day. Others require up to four. One by one, the pills ward off high blood pressure, high cholesterol, strokes and insomnia.

“I can’t go without them,” Chimera said. “When the bottle starts to get empty, I call the doctor right away. I can’t go for more than one day without these.”

With combined support of Medicare and a secondary insurance policy paid by Chimera’s former employer, Chimera is able to afford his medication. He pays about $125 in co-pays a month.

“I wouldn’t be able to do it without any assistance,” he said. “I rely on Medicare a lot. That takes care of when I go to my doctor or if I have to go to the emergency room.”

The cost of health

Yasmin Pervez, a doctor of internal medicine on Division Street in North Tonawanda, said she’s seen a rapid rise in the cost of prescriptions.

“Especially cholesterol medications and antihistamines,” she said. “There’s hardly any medications that are cheap for blood pressure. The cost is so astronomical.”

For some seniors, the drugs they need the most cost the most. Bob Metzinger of the City of Tonawanda is taking eight prescriptions, at about 12 pills a day. And that number is growing.

“One pill they want me to take costs $93,” Metzinger said. “I can’t pay that. Every time I turn around, there’s another drug.”

Metzinger said he pays upwards of $300 a month for his medication, and isn’t entitled to Medicare until the fall. He’s hoping Medicare will ease the strain of prescription costs, but is worried legislation and budget restraints will hinder the program.

“(President) Reagan started taking away some of our programs,” he said. “Now Bush is doing it. He’s got money, he doesn’t care.”

Metzinger’s looming fear is that he won’t be able to support himself as he ages and will become a burden to his children.

Laying the blame

Chimera points the finger at greedy drug companies, gobbling up huge profit margins on prescriptions many Americans need to live. Chimera said evidence that some drug companies are jacking up the price can be found by reading the labels of generic drugs.

“It seems like if two companies put out the same drug, they don’t have the same price,” he said. “I asked my doctor what’s the difference between generic and brand name drugs, and he said only the cost.”

Pervez blames the government, as well.

“The government allows the drug companies to charge this much, allows the increases in cost,” she said. “They should really put a cap on how much these prescriptions can cost. Elderly people can’t really afford their medications.”

With prescription costs soaring upward, Pervez said the elderly get hit hardest and end up without the drugs they need.

“They can’t buy them,” she said. “If they can’t buy them, they can’t get treated.”

Cutting some corners

Pervez can’t bring down the cost of prescriptions, but she can do a few things for her patients to soften the blow.

“I try to change to low-costing medication or by giving samples, depending on their financial situation,” she said.

For Pervez, getting all doctors to stand up to big drug companies could be the key to reducing costs.

“They can pull together and stop prescribing the most expensive medications,” she said. “It will force the companies to make them more affordable.”

Or look to our northern neighbors. Pervez said she would be in favor of importing Canadian drugs as long as there was a quality control system in place.

Metzinger is in total agreement.

“If these other people are taking them and surviving, then we should be able to take them,” he said. “If our drug companies see they’ll lose money through competition, the prices should go down. Competition is always good.”

Chimera would also try an unpatriotic pill or two.

“If my doctor says the drugs from other countries are safe, I have no problem taking them,” he said. “I depend on my doctor 110 percent. Whatever he says, I take as gospel.”

For More Information: http://www.tonawanda-news.com/story.asp?id=2250