Chronic Disease Needs More Cash for Canadian Prescription Drugs Maintenance

Jan 3
09:12

2012

Remcel Mae P. Canete

Remcel Mae P. Canete

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Families with employer-sponsored health care plans, and at the same time handling chronic illness give more out-of-pockets than those without chronic illness, mainly due to higher Canada prescriptions.

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Families with employer-sponsored health care plans,Chronic Disease Needs More Cash for Canadian Prescription Drugs Maintenance Articles and at the same time handling chronic illness give more out-of-pockets than those without chronic illness, mainly due to higher Canada prescriptions

"Even when you are looking at the same level of total spending, families covering chronic conditions spent more out of pocket than those without chronic illnesses, and it doesn't appear to be because the families are in different types of plans," researcher Anne Beeson Royalty, a professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, said in a university news release. 

"It looks as though the difference is because certain types of services - such as Canadian prescription drugs - are covered less generously," she added. 

"Because average coinsurance for prescription drugs is much higher than coinsurance on other health care services, that means that the households with chronic conditions pay more of that $7,000 out of their own pockets than do other households -- roughly $500 more in this case. The differences grow more pronounced as total spending increases," Royalty explained. 

 She and her colleagues said "the study raises questions about how health care plans are designed. They suggested that employers and insurers should investigate whether better-designed health plans would promote the use of high value services (for example, taking prescription medicines) by cutting the patients' out-of-pocket costs of these services." 

"If a person can keep a chronic condition under control with medication, not only will that produce better health but also fewer expensive hospitalizations," Royalty said.  Specifically, no need to buy Lexapro more often to alleviate one’s depression.