Monday, July 12, 2004
Over-the-counter drugs and HSAs
[Eve Tahmihncioglu, "Over the Counter, Yes, but Out of the Insurance Plan," The Herald Tribune, 4 July 2004.]
Prescription medicines are increasingly becoming available over-the-counter. Not only can this more convenient and less expensive, but it also makes more treatments available to those without insurance. There are those with insurance who may now have to pay more, though, as this article reprinted from The New York Times explains:
While high prescription costs hog the spotlight, more and more consumers are being hit with another expense: over-the-counter drugs that aren't covered by insurance. Allergy drugs like Zyrtec and Claritin, as well as heartburn medications like Prilosec, can now be bought without a prescription, and drug makers are pushing to sell cholesterol drugs directly to consumers, too.
What is going on in this situation is that consumers are actually paying amounts that reflect the cost of the item they are purchasing--rather than the third-party model of flat co-pays regardless of cost. This means consumers may begin behaving more rationally about the choices they make:
Dr. Kathleen W. Wilson, an internal medicine specialist at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans, said her patients had various ways of coping. "They do not buy lifestyle medicine such as Claritin unless they can afford it or their symptoms really bother them," she said. "They adapt to the high price of reflux drugs by using them intermittently on the worst days and using the lower-priced drugs on the other days."
And as many insurance plans raise the co-payments for prescription drugs, some consumers find that switching to over-the-counter medications - even if they are not covered by insurance - can save money, especially if they shop around.
As well, as more people switch to consumer-driven plans such as HSAs, they will have the freedom to choose the OTC or prescription medicines of their choosing.
[Eve Tahmihncioglu, "Over the Counter, Yes, but Out of the Insurance Plan," The Herald Tribune, 4 July 2004.]
Prescription medicines are increasingly becoming available over-the-counter. Not only can this more convenient and less expensive, but it also makes more treatments available to those without insurance. There are those with insurance who may now have to pay more, though, as this article reprinted from The New York Times explains:
While high prescription costs hog the spotlight, more and more consumers are being hit with another expense: over-the-counter drugs that aren't covered by insurance. Allergy drugs like Zyrtec and Claritin, as well as heartburn medications like Prilosec, can now be bought without a prescription, and drug makers are pushing to sell cholesterol drugs directly to consumers, too.
What is going on in this situation is that consumers are actually paying amounts that reflect the cost of the item they are purchasing--rather than the third-party model of flat co-pays regardless of cost. This means consumers may begin behaving more rationally about the choices they make:
Dr. Kathleen W. Wilson, an internal medicine specialist at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans, said her patients had various ways of coping. "They do not buy lifestyle medicine such as Claritin unless they can afford it or their symptoms really bother them," she said. "They adapt to the high price of reflux drugs by using them intermittently on the worst days and using the lower-priced drugs on the other days."
And as many insurance plans raise the co-payments for prescription drugs, some consumers find that switching to over-the-counter medications - even if they are not covered by insurance - can save money, especially if they shop around.
As well, as more people switch to consumer-driven plans such as HSAs, they will have the freedom to choose the OTC or prescription medicines of their choosing.
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