The Problem Of Prescription Drugs

This ultimately can affect mortality. About five percent of re-admissions are directly driven by lack of adherence to medications as prescribed by the healthcare providers. It is concerning for seniors as living costs continue to rise and their income fixed income remains stagnant.

To change your whole perspective of the American equity framework; to see the most squeezing social liberties issue of our time. The most scorned gathering in America is not gays, Transgender, nor even unlawful foreigners - it is "offenders." Michelle Alexander, a previous agent to Harry Blackmun, previous social equality lawyer, and present law teacher assembles everything in indicating how the War on Medications has attempted to subjugate, disappoint, and devastate gigantic swathes of poor dark and chestnut individuals who are no a larger number of lawbreakers than the normal American. Ex-cons and illicit outsiders are the gatherings toward which separation is overlooked, as well as socially affirmed. There are more dark guys under criminal

The passage of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act will also inadvertently increase access to many types of medications for individuals who qualify for Medicare Part D. There is a clause within the bill that would establish rebates to be paid by pharmaceutical companies for low-income beneficiaries. These rebates, in addition to lowered costs, would considerably lessen the financial burden placed on low-income beneficiaries. This will allow more individuals greater access to expensive medications. As an example, each year, financial reasons hinder about 16% of diabetic Part D beneficiaries from filling at least one of their prescriptions (Williams, Steers, Ettner, Mangione, & Duru, 2013). This increase in access will help mitigate the occurrence of cost-related nonadherence to prescription medications, and other such consequences

In the beginning of last year my twelve year old sister was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, which is the same concept as Crohn's. Every six weeks she has to go into the hospital to get an IV drip of the chemo drug Remicade or as all the nurses call it “Liquid gold.” They call it that because every dose that the patient gets is roughly $10,000. Each and every person all have a different view on the topic, from what the problem actually is, what is causing the high rise is pharmaceutical drugs and what the right solution would be. What we do know is this is becoming a colossal issue in today's world. It mostly is seen in the United States, where there are no laws against a free market for drug pricing; or in other words there are no rules about how to price prescription drugs. The prices of prescription drugs are rising at an very alarming rate, due to the fact that there are a lot of drug shortages and the money the companies spend on making the drug are so high. There are many different solutions to help fix the issue it all depends on what your stance is on

We (Individuals) do not want an individual in jury duty under the use of illegal dugs. But, what if the individual is actually under prescription drugs?

One of the greatest problems we face in America today is the use and abuse of drugs in our country. It is important to find a solution that works within our country to combat the growing populations of our nation’s prisons, keep the supply of drugs under control, and have adequate prevention programs in place to help people who need treatment. Throughout reading the material for this course and the research conducted on the topics described in this paper, it is clear that the methods used in earlier years were not able to achieve the results we would like to see. Advocating for reform and the support of the American people can help with the desperate need for change.

Prescription drug abuse is as dangerous to your health as illegal drug use. According to the article “Prescription Pain Medications: What you need to know,” there are many pieces of evidence that show the danger of prescription medications. Three examples of theses dangers from prescription medications in the article is that people can stop breathing, can begin addictions that may get worse, and overall overdosing on prescription medications. These prescription medications, opioids, such as OxyContin, Vicodin, Percodan, etc. are made with a plant called the Poppy Plant, which is also an ingredient for illegal opioids such as heroin. In paragraph five it says, “In fact, they now outnumber deaths from heroin and cocaine combined.” Furthermore,

Families and individuals saved on average three to ten dollars on non-drug spending products for each additional dollar spent on prescriptions. With a total potential net savings of $7,800 per patient in a given year. Although this is data sets provided on America’s health care system, it opens the door to Canadians about adherence rates and there overall savings benefits. Adherence to medication is important, but the number one reason for non-adherence stems from out of pocket expenses. This had led 1 in 10 Canadians to nit fill a prescription, yet alone adhere to a regiment. It comes back to the importance of insurance coverage. Other factors in contribution range from already poor health, low income,and being under the age of

In 2014, approximately 47,000 Americans died from the overdose of drugs. The fact that Americas drug problem has gotten this out of hand is alarming, but when taking a closer look at these numbers, it becomes clear that many of these Americans are not dying from illegal drugs like cocaine, meth, heroin, or marijuana. Instead, legal opioid painkillers were the biggest cause of overdose, resulting in approximately 14,000 deaths in 2014. In the 1990s, doctors began treating chronic pain as a serious issue, prescribing large amounts of opioid painkillers, and by 2012 doctors wrote 259 million prescriptions for painkillers. Opioid painkillers are highly addictive drugs that bind to receptors in the brain, reducing pain messaging to the nervous system. When scientists began to realize the harmful and addicting effects of painkillers, prescriptions were pulled back, causing users to turn to another opioid: heroin. The painkiller addiction problem became so serious that the Obama Administration has put 1.1 billion dollars into funding addiction education, prevention, and treatment; however, when doctors eliminated painkillers, they need an alternative to treating chronic pain. In order to suffice, doctors have looked at another controversial issue: medical marijuana. Studies have shown that cannabis can help treat chronic pain in most cases, and unlike opioids, marijuana isn’t linked to deadly overdoses. However, opposers are worried about marijuana’s harmful effects on the brain

In the business of drug production over the years, there have been astronomical gains in the technology of pharmaceutical drugs. More and more drugs are being made for diseases and viruses each day, and there are many more drugs still undergoing research and testing. These "miracle" drugs are expensive, however, and many Americans cannot afford these prices.

“The odds of having good health outcomes are 2.88 % higher when patients are adherent” ( DiMatteo, Haskard-Zolnierek & Martin, 2012, p. 75). Nonadherence occurs for many reasons and may or may not be intentional. Nonadherence is defined as the failure to follow prescribed medical advice. Examples of actions considered to be medical advice are: to take medication as prescribed, make behavioral changes such as diet and exercise, keep appointments, and have screenings/testing done. Nonadherence, also called noncompliance also causes frustration of providers and patients, and wastes resources. Rates of nonadherence can be as high as 70% with complex regimens (Martin, Williams & DiMatteo, 2005). Factors in compliance with medical advice include: severity of disease, complexity of regimen, patient knowledge and beliefs, costs incurred by the patient, resource availability, availability of social support, psychological problems, and rapport and communication with healthcare providers.

Medication non-compliance can occur for various reasons, such as: finances, transportation, religion, mental illness, substance abuse, not understanding why the medication is being prescribed, not trusting the prescriber etc. Either way when patients do not adhere to their medication regimen it causes a domino effect and may worsen the patients health status.

One of the problems of Medicare itself is that it doesn't cover the costs of prescription drugs for its members; this has led to one of the major reasons that the program is in danger. A great deal of personal healthcare relies on the use of drugs, and since the program doesn't cover these costs, the individual must bear them. According to the AARP, in 1999 out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs were estimated to be $450 per person each year (AARP). Obviously, members have joined the program to defray their medical costs, but these figures indicate that they still have large costs to pay. The other problem faced by the Medicare program is that it is also suffering from a lack of funds. According to Governor George W. Bush, the financial health of Medicare is in serious jeopardy and might face deficit as soon as 2010 (Bush). As a result of these major problems, one might wonder why the plan isn't scrapped for another program; well according to polls done by the Public Agenda, an Internet public policy site, American citizens are strongly in favor of Medicare, and would rather see the problems ironed out (Public Agenda). Therefore it is necessary to come up with a solution, so that the Medicare program remains intact.

Prescription drugs all around are very expensive, but without out them some of us would not be able to say we are alive. We can still see the price of these prescription drugs go through the roof as we speak. Although most of low-income workers can barely afford medicine and drugs, one way or another, we make it work because without it we would be dead. Although having insurance covers a lot of our medical health expenses, such as medical bills, prescription bills, hospital bills and things of this nature. As the cost of prescriptions keep going up, sometimes our insurance companies cannot cover the cost because they have hit their Cap of money able to spend. Some insurance companies have Cap for a person or a cap for a whole family it can be yearly or annually it just depends on the “deal” you worked out with your insurance provider. Most families, like my own make due to cover the cost of having insurance, yet we have to still be able to cover what remains of the prescription cost if we want to live. Money sometimes is very tight and meeting these necessary financial situations get tough.

Carre Otis, American model and actress, once said, “I grew up on antibiotics. Every ailment - sore throats, earaches, flus - warranted a trip to the doctor and in most cases some kind of prescription… In those days there was very little discussion about any potential negative impact of this go-to approach to cure physical symptoms. Ailments were something to be immediately “fixed” with whatever medicine the doctor assigned.” Prescription drugs have caused a take a pill mentality to be a major part of kid’s and teen’s minds as they grow up, as opposed to letting things heals naturally. Any time a child experiences any sort of pain that is not immediately external, like a bruise, headache, or sore muscle. The first thing to be brought up is a pill. This immediately relates that pill to feeling better in this child’s mind. As a teen, taking prescription pills can be very common. Such as, taking caffeine pills to stay awake, a pill to fall asleep easier, and many other cases of younger people involving themselves in these activities. Because of this, teens are growing more and more reliant on pills to be able to function in their minds. Younger kids and teens find it easier to take prescription drugs because they have a friendly connotation behind them. If a doctor supplies them, then how could they hurt me?