More on medication "nonadherence"

[Margo Harris]

For another perspective on why and how patients take medicine, you might
want to read the article in this morning's Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
"Seniors heading north for prescription drugs."
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/drug24.shtml  Even traveling to Canada
to obtain large price breaks on prescription drugs and to purchase what are
OTC drugs in Canada, seniors still creatively tailor medication compliance
plans.  "So they've learned to economize with medicines as they have learned
to economize elsewhere.  They might just take a pill every other day...she
sometimes cuts a pill in half to make one dosage last two days."

"That seniors are willing to drive two hours to a foreign country
underscores that something is wrong in the United States, some people who
study the pharmaceutical industry say.  "On the face of it, it's silly that
people have to do this," said Thomas Hazlet, an assistant pharmacy professor
at the University of Washington.

I remember calmly thinking that my mother-in-law had supplemental insurance
that included a pharmacy benefit.  I then learned that the total benefit was
$500/year, when she spent $1,000 or more.  Like the people mentioned in the
article, her pharmacy bills easily exceeded $5,000-$6,000/year.  Margo

Margo Harris
Harris Training & Consulting Services
Seattle, WA
Email: margo at htcs.com
Internet: www.htcs.com
"I know God won't give me anything I can't handle.
I just wish (s)he didn't trust me so much."  Mother Theresa