Customer Reviews

How to Save on Prescription Drugs: 20 Cost Saving Methods

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Long known as a patient advocate in his home town of Templeton, California, this busy family doctor has a special interest in the subject of medication and a passion for helping his patients keep drug costs to a minimum. The son of a physician, with three brothers who are also physicians, he has been well-steeped in pharmacological and medical issues for most of his life. This book is an exceptional bounty of knowledge written for the common patients' pharmacy needs in an inflationary economy in which many people have little income and no health insurance. On a personal level, this book has changed how my husband and myself talk to our physicians about our medication issues and has help cut our drug expenses in half.

Wish I had read this book years earlier!
A must read for people especially using monthly medications on a consistent basis.

I learned some tips that really helped save out of pocket money (which is what really counts), and great advice for some needed conversations with my doctor.

Everyone should read this!

Nobody should be trying to navigate today's prescription drug costs without having access to the kind of information contained in this book. It is appropriate for Medicare patients, people in group health plans and individuals just trying to get a fair break on buying the medicines they need. As a Medicare patient the methods in this book saved me about 50% over the cost of buying a Part D drug plan. My son, recovering from encephalitis and without drug insurance coverage or the ability to work was able to reduce his cost for very expensive maintenance medicines to practically zero through the drug manufacturer programs identified and explained in this book. A real Godsend to my family!

The book is specific, timely, well written, easy to read and contains most, if not all, of the information you will need to be a better buyer when it comes to the medicines you need. It brings together in one place a wealth of information that would take someone like me weeks or months to search out on the web. And, that's even if I knew the right questions to ask (I don`t). This book provides you with tools you need to work more effectively with your doctor, to save on the prescriptions you need and in a multitude of ways to be a more actively engaged patient and an advocate for your own better health care.

I give it five stars and think this is an extremely informative must-buy book that should be on every health care consumers shelf.

I found this book to be a worthwhile starting point but certainly you can argue that the second you pick it up, it is already antiquated. Nothing beats pharmacy shopping for your medications. Although time consuming, it is the only way to get the best price. If you trust websites, there is a good one out there called [...]. They appear to have done the pharmacy shopping for you. They rank all the pharmacies by location with their drug specific prices. The only reason I trust them is that they don't actually sell anything on the site. Instead they tell you what pharmacy (brick & mortar) to buy it at.

Dr. Jardini focuses on one aspect of healthcare costs, specifically prescription drugs. His 20 cost-saving methods break down into the following groups.
(1) eliminate nonessential prescriptions - stop medications no longer needed because the problem resolved, medications no longer worked, medications never worked, medications were never needed.
(2) think beyond the prescription bottle - treat whatever ails you with lifestyle changes (lose weight, exercise, eat healthier, quit smoking), nondrug treatments, prevent disease naturally.
(3) avoid overpriced me-too drugs - don't asked for advertised drugs, don't take free drug samples (it's how drug companies get you hooked on their most expensive drugs), insist on generic drugs, insist on cheaper drugs in the same medication class, for a particular medical problem (i.e. allergies) get the medication class that is cheapest (antihistamines like benadryl are cheaper than nasal prescription steroids).
(4) be smart - split tablets, be prescribed the right dosage or amount (some medications cost the same for the 20 mg and 40 mg so if you take two 20 mg pills per day, it would be cheaper to take a 40 mg pill), ask to see if another dosage exists, don't treat one medication's side effects with another, shop around, get it for free (take free samples that you absolutely need and enough for the short period of time you need it or if you'll get insurance to cover the cost), and finally,
(5) use pill programs - programs from drug companies that give discounts (PPA Rx 1-888-4PPA-NOW or www.pparx.org), through the federal government like the VA, TRICARE, or state through Medicaid / Medi-Cal, and possibly Medicare Part D.

Overall the advice is good and we should always ask the doctor for generic medications that are effective for the problem at hand and not get fooled by slick advertising. An excellent free website listing drugs that are the best value for the conditions they treat is by Consumer Reports and found at www.crbestbuydrugs.org. I was surprised he didn't include this important unbiased source. He also didn't talk about how Wal-mart and other retailers offer $4 prescription medication and for 90 days, it would cost $10. Another cost saver.

At times, the advice given was misleading or overly optimistic. On page 3, he notes that the generic cholesterol medication lovastatin 10 mg tablet is 58% cheaper than the brand name Lipitor 10 mg pill which is true. What he failed to mention is that the generic drug is only ¼ as potent which means you'd need four times as many pills to get the same cholesterol lowering effect! For the area on think beyond the prescription bottle, yes lifestyle changes would be great, but for the vast majority of people they've tried dieting, exercising, and they ultimately need medications to address their medical condition. Telling us what we should do but despite our best intentions are unable to do so really isn't a cost-saving method per se. Also asking doctors about whether the evidence from various research studies on heart disease or osteoporosis means that medications can be stopped may be out of the reach of most patients. Often seeing a doctor is intimidating. Asking a doctor about not only the latest research but also then asking to stop the medication because of it may seem too high of a hurdle for some to do.

Nevertheless, he advocates that readers communicate with their doctors about prescription drugs and not to stop without checking in with their doctor. An excellent companion book which covers how to talk to doctors, offers the truth about herbals, dietary supplements, body scans, and also has a section on prescription drugs that would complement this book well is Stay Healthy, Live Longer, Spend Wisely: Making Intelligent Choices in America's Healthcare System.