Are generic medicines living up to their promise of lowering prescription drug costs?
Using generic medicine is an excellent way to save money. Generic drugs typically cost 20 to 70 percent less than their brand-name equivalents. According to the Congressional Budget Office, generic drugs save consumers an estimated $8 billion to $10 billion a year at retail pharmacies.
If people want to save money on prescription medications, they can be assured that an FDA-approved generic drug is just as safe and has the same high quality as a brand medication. A generic drug is the same as a brand name drug in dosage, safety, strength, how it is taken, quality, performance and intended use. Before approving a generic drug product, the FDA requires many rigorous tests and procedures to assure that the generic drug can be substituted for the brand-name drug.
The main difference between the two medicines lies in the cost. Generics are less expensive because of how they get into the market, not because they are made with lower-quality products. Creating a new drug from the beginning costs lots of money. Generic drug makers do not develop a drug from scratch, so it costs less to make a generic.
What other prescription drug benefit strategies can employers use?
Pharmacy costs can be effectively managed through benefit plan designs that provide financial incentives for using less costly generic and preferred brand-name drugs. Multi-tiered drug benefits using different flat dollar copayments require employees to pay higher copays for brand-name drugs or drugs that are not on the formulary. Some tiered drug benefits also use percentage copayments, or coinsurance, in which employees pay a percentage of the cost of the drug, rather than a flat dollar amount. Both benefit designs oblige people to have a bigger financial stake in the process, so they tend to get more involved in finding affordable and effective drugs to use.
In addition, employers should encourage employees to educate themselves on their diseases and drug therapy treatments, and to talk to their doctors about alternative treatments. Sometimes people can avoid taking medication altogether by changing a lifestyle habit or doing something differently. For example, doctors often find that when patients change their diets or use the right over-the-counter medications, mild heartburn may be controlled without using expensive proton pump inhibitors.
Employers should also support employees in leading healthy lifestyles. The more overweight people are, the more health problems such as diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, stroke and certain cancers they are likely to have. And the more health problems a person has, the more medication he or she will use. Therefore, it makes sense to help your employees lose weight, quit smoking and make other healthy lifestyle choices.
For more information from the FDA, visit www.fda.gov/Drugs/default.htm.
The Consumers Union and Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs can be found at www.crbestbuydrugs.org.
James A. Giardina, RPh, M.S., is the regional vice president of Pharmacy Services at HealthAmerica. Reach him at [email protected].
