Individuals with pre-existing conditions who have been uninsured for six months may now find it easier to obtain coverage through the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP). PCIP was created by the Affordable Care Act to provide interim coverage until the Health Insurance Exchanges are up and running in 2014. Twenty-seven states administer their own PCIP. PCIP is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the other 23 states and in the District of Columbia.
HHS announced on May 31, 2011, that premiums would be reduced by as much as 40% in 18 of the 23 states in which the federal government administers PCIP.
Furthermore, starting this July, applicants in the states where PCIP is administered by HHS will no longer have to establish that they have been turned down for health insurance coverage by an insurance company. They will only have to provide a letter from a doctor, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner verifying that they have or have had a medical condition, disability or illness that qualifies them for PCIP. The letter must be dated within 12 months of the application.
Coverage under PCIP is available to individuals who are citizens or who are living in the United States legally, who have pre-existing conditions, and who have been uninsured for at least the last 6 months. Eligibility is not based on income. PCIP covers hospital care, primary and specialty care, and prescription drugs, even for pre-existing conditions coverage.
Click on the link below for more information on applying to PCIP: http://www.healthcare.gov/law/provisions/preexisting/federal/index.html
Today the Food and Drug Administration approved Ampyra, a new drug owned by Biogen Idec. to fight multiple sclerosis.
The new drug is an extended-release tablet aimed at helping to increase mobility in those battling against multiple sclerosis. The FDA said those who took the drug had better movement and faster walking speeds than those who had taken a placebo.
“For people with MS, impaired walking ability is one of the most common and concerning aspects of the disease,†said Alfred Sandrock, senior vice president of neurology research and development at Biogen Idec, in a statement. “Ampyra may be an important therapy in reducing the impact of this debilitating condition.â€
The drug is set to be marketed by Acorda Therapeutics Inc. who also is responsible for marketing Zanaflex.
Despite its usefulness to help mobility is those suffering from MS, the FDA did warn that Ampyra, when given at doses greater than recommended, can cause seizures. However, the FDA did not feel that a “black box†warning on the label of the drug was necessary, which is the most serious type of warning for potential side effects.
Long-term sufferers of insomnia who have not found lasting relief from such sleep aids as Ambien or Sonta should consider researching Rozerem, the only medication of its type approved in the treatment of sleeplessness.
Rozerem (ramelteon) is the first of a new class of insomnia drugs: melatonin receptor agonists. These are similar to the naturally-produced sleep hormone melatonin, which your body needs for healthy sleep cycles. Rozerem, manufactured by Takeda Industries North America, was approved by the FDA in July 2005 for the treatment of delayed-onset insomnia. It emerged against a backdrop of other classes of drugs to treat the condition — and it has some important differences.
Insomnia was historically treated with barbiturates, which were extremely strong and frighteningly addictive. In the Sixties, the benzodiazepines appeared. These drugs (such as Halcion) helped treat insomnia with a much lower rate of serious side effects and addiction, but still had moderate side effects such as dizziness and a hangover effect. In the Nineties, there emerged a new class of non-benzodiazepine sleep aids, including Sonata and Lunesta, which have safely helped many people combat insomnia. Still, as they target several broad areas of the brain that are involved in sleep, they still have considerable side effects on memory and clarity.
In 2005, Rozerem was approved as a treatment for insomnia. It is said to have a different, more precise mechanism than other sleep aids, with an ability to target the “master clock†of the human body, affecting the sleep-wake cycle without unduly interfering with nearby brain functions.
Because it is in a different class than Lunesta and Ambien, Rozerem may be an effective treatment for patients who have not found lasting results on these medications. If you have not reconsidered your insomnia treatment since this important new class of drugs appeared in 2005, it is worth researching these new developments, as they may cure your insomnia more effectively, or do so with fewer side effects.
Side effects: Common side effects on this medication are dizziness, drowsiness, and daytime sleepiness. Sometimes people using this drug sleep-walk or perform other actions in their sleep. More serious side effects involve hormonal changes such as missed periods, nipple discharge, or difficulty becoming pregnant. It is important to tell your doctor immediately if you experience depressed or suicidal thoughts while taking this medication. Finally, be aware of any symptoms of a very serious allergic reaction to Rozerem such as a rash or swelling. Call your doctor immediately if this occurs.
Cautions and contra-indications: Rozerem is not suitable for patients with liver disease. You should not take it if you are also taking fluvoxamine, rifampin, or certain antifungal antibiotics. You should advise your doctor if you suffer from any breathing disorders such as sleep apnea or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. You should also tell your doctor if you have a history of mental illness, depression, or suicidal thinking. And of these factors might mean that you cannot take Rozerem, or that you might have an adjusted dose. Rozerem is a pregnancy category C drug, so it may be harmful to an unborn baby, or in breast milk. Finally, Rozerem may affect hormonal levels in men and women, with possible effects to the desire and fertility. Talk with your doctor about your reproductive plans if you are considering Rozerem.
As with any drug, please consult your doctor before taking.
A diagnosis of high cholesterol can be intimidating, but there is a lot you can do to control this condition. In addition to modifying your diet and upping your exercise, the addition of a HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor — a class of drugs commonly called “statins†— can safely and effectively lower your cholesterol. (HMG-CoA Reductase helps our liver produce cholesterol; when the chemical is inhibited, the amount of cholesterol is correspondingly reduced.) For people with heart disease, statins can lower the risk of a cardiac event and subsequent death. If you and your doctor have determined that you need a statin, how can you pick the right statin for your needs?
There are six statins on the market: atorvastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin, and simvastatin. They differ in their ability to reduce cholesterol, and they also differ in their rates of reducing heart attacks. Their costs are also quite different — and since most people take statins for a long time, the costs add up over the years. With all of these variables, choosing the right statin for you can be complex.
All statins are capable of lowering LDL (“badâ€) cholesterol and triglycerides, and raising HDL (“goodâ€) cholesterol. The statins do differ in how effectively they can do this, and it is highly dose-dependent. Says Drug Digest:
If the needed LDL-C reduction is up to 35-36%, any of the statins should be acceptable choices for therapy. For a desired reduction of LDL-C greater than 42%, simvastatin (Zocor), atorvastatin (Lipitor), or rosuvastatin (Crestor) would be needed.
Indeed, the best-known statins are Crestor, Lipitor, and Zocor (quite probably because they have the greatest effect on cholesterol levels). The latter two are also endorsed by Consumer Reports. Taking evidence for effectiveness, safety, and cost into account, the publication rated both of these statins as “Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs.†They recommend:
• Generic simvastatin (20mg or 40 mg) — if you need 30% or greater LDL reduction and/or have heart disease or diabetes, or if you have had a heart attack or have acute coronary syndrome and your LDL level is not highly elevated.
• Atorvastatin (Lipitor) (40mg or 80mg) — if you have had a heart attack or have acute coronary syndrome and your LDL is highly elevated; use for two years and then reconfirm need or switch to generic simvastatin.
Charts on Drug Digest have some great comparisons. For instance, they show that Lipitor (10-80 mg.) can reduce total cholesterol by 25-45%, while Zocor (5-80 mg.) can reduce the same numbers by 19-36%, and Crestor (5-40 mg.) can reduce it by 33-46%. As for lowering HDL, Lipitor can offer reduction of 5-9%, Zocor lessens HDL by 8-16%, and Crestor lowers these numbers by 8-14%. As you can see, choosing the proper statin has a lot to do with which numbers (Total Cholesterol, HDL, LDL, or triglycerides) you are trying to effect.
A final consideration is that last year there was reporting on an observational study done by Pfizer that suggested that there were certain benefits to using Lipitor over Crestor. However, one must keep in mind that Pfizer conducted the study, and they are the manufacturer of Lipitor, and they are defending this drug against Merck’s Zocor product, which is now available in a generic formula. Here is the information as presented by The Wall Street Journal:
An analysis, published in the latest Clinical Therapeutics Journal, mined a large database of health-care records and found that patients taking Lipitor had a 12% lower risk of a cardiovascular event than those on simvastatin, the generic name for Zocor. The patients on Lipitor had a 15% lower risk of having a heart attack.
So-called observational studies like this one that look at data after the fact aren’t as powerful as prospective clinical trials. Jack Tu, a cardiologist who specializes in outcomes research at Canada’s Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, says the latest Pfizer study didn’t take into account factors that could predispose a patient to heart problems, such as smoking and cholesterol levels. “Just on this alone, you wouldn’t recommend that everyone should switch onto Lipitor,†he says.
Still, Pfizer hopes that doctors will take notice. “We’ve done two rather large observational studies and patients have a lower risk of cardiovascular events on Lipitor [compared with] simvastatin,†says Susan Shiff, Pfizer’s team leader for cardiovascular outcomes. “Doctors need to factor this into discussions with patients.â€
You should definitely discuss with your physician which statin is right for you. In general, the best plan is to take the LOWEST dose of a statin that gets you to your target level for cholesterol. Overly large doses can be harmful to your liver and to your muscles. If you experience muscle aches and pains when taking a statin, contact your doctor immediately.
Too many Americans today are basing their opinions on prescription drugs solely on advertising by drugmakers. You should never get all your information from pharmaceutical commercials, Web sites, or drug labels.
Why, you might ask? Aren’t drugmakers required by the FDA to tell the truth about their medications?
The answer is, yes and no. Drugmakers are required to tell you about the potential side effects and drug interactions associated with their medications. But the FDA recently warned drugmakers that they are not emphasizing these enough in their ads.
An even more critical omission from drug ads is that they don’t tell you that there are often less expensive generic drugs that are just as effective.
So for unbiased information on drugs or treatments you are interested in learning more about, here are four independent sources that have no ties to, and accept no advertising from, pharmaceutical companies:
1. Consumer Reports Health. Consumer Reports is perhaps the single best source for unbiased drug information, because it has never accepted advertising and is operated by the nonprofit Consumers Union. To access Consumer Reports information, you do have to pay a small subscription fee (less than $20 per year), but it is well worth the price.
2. RxFacts.org. RxFacts.org, the Independent Drug Information Service (iDiS), provides doctors and patients with an evidence-based, non-commercial source of the latest findings about prescription drugs. The Independent Drug Information Service is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, and its clinical content is created by an independent group of physicians and researchers on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. The only downside to this resource is that only a limited number of drugs are currently overviewed on the site.
3. Wikipedia. The mainstream media has done a disservice to Wikipedia by focusing on errors in its entries. Wikipedia is the seventh most visited site on the Web for good reason. Independent surveys have shown that, on average, Wikipedia is similar in accuracy to other encyclopedias. And as an ad-free resource that is not influenced by the pharmaceutical industry, it has great value as a starting point for your research. If you are unsure about any of the information you see in a Wikipedia entry, click on the footnotes in that entry that are required to document facts — which will generally send you to the original source material.
4. eDrugSearch.com’s Online Pharmacy Dictionary. As a free service to members, eDrugSearch.com provides an online pharmacy dictionary of more than 200 commonly prescribed drugs. When you click on an individual drug name, you’ll see news updates on the drug from the Associated Press and other sources, as well as drug information from the FDA. Members of the eDrugSearch.com Community can also view member drug reviews and ratings for more than 100 medications.
Sometime back, Effect Measure posed a question many of us have pondered about direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical commercials: What’s with the side-by-side bath tubs in the Cialis ads?
Here are some of the answers given in comments –
- “Cialis really gets your pipes flowing or plumbing flowing…”
- “Bathtubs — because you can’t show naked, mutually aroused adults on the sandy beach on TV, but you can imply they are naked and mutually aroused whilst lounging in soapy tubs on a sandy beach on TV.”
- “I think it is to convey the impression that Cialis is ripe for a slow, romantic build-up to sex and not as much about rushing to the goal. Take your time, relax, have a wonderful evening just ‘being’ with your partner.”
OK, now I have another question: Why are these ads — or ANY ads for prescription drugs directed at consumers — allowed on television or anywhere else?
This is a topic we’ve covered before. We’ve told you that only two countries in the world — the United States and New Zealand — permit DTC pharmaceutical advertising. We’ve shown you how the billions spent on DTC advertising lead American consumers to purchase more drugs than they need, and pharmaceutical companies to charge more for their products than they should.
DTC advertising was OKed at a time when “deregulation” seemed to be the default answer to every public policy question. It didn’t hurt that Big Pharma was putting big money into pockets all over Washington, D.C., to make this happen, either.
But the FDA’s attempts to ensure that Big Pharma advertising is “educational” (the industry’s official argument for DTC ads) as opposed to simply — well, advertising — have proven increasingly awkward.
We all know that the FDA-mandated warnings about side effects, which must appear in every ad that describes what a drug does, have become a national joke.
Last month, the FDA warned pharmaceutical companies that all of their online ads need to include these warnings, too. This goes for those all-text ads in Google search results that give you fewer characters than a Twitter message to sell your product. Good luck adding side effects to those.
And now, last week, the FDA warned drug companies against including “distracting music and images” in their TV commercials.
According to Reuters:
Television ads for drugs and medical devices should avoid distracting images and music that can reduce viewers’ comprehension of potential side effects, U.S. regulators advised in guidelines proposed on Tuesday.
Advertisements also should use similar type styles and voice-overs when conveying benefits and risks, the Food and Drug Administration said.
In the new guidelines, the FDA said busy scenes, frequent scene changes and moving camera angles “can misleadingly minimize the risks of the product being promoted by detracting from the audience’s comprehension.”
Hey, FDA, do you know what an ad is? Here’s a hint: It’s not a 30-second documentary. It’s a sales message that uses images, music and whatever else it can to sell a product.
For pharmaceutical companies, its only purpose is to get you to “ask your doctor for it by name” the next time you want to sit in beachfront bathtubs, side by side, with your sexual partner.
Which is why these ads should never have been legalized in the first place.
“Ask your doctor” if he or she agrees with us on this. I bet they do.
Consumers search for antidepressants online more than any other class of drug, according to data from comScore. In a recent study of 500,000 search queries, five of the 15 most frequently searched prescription brands were for depression. This is in keeping with our own search results at eDrugSearch.com.
Here are those five medications, in order of searches:
1. Compare Lexapro prices
2. Compare Effexor prices
3. Compare Cymbalta prices
4. Compare Prozac prices
5. Compare Paxil prices
So, which antidepressant is right for you? In addition to consulting your physician, here are two helpful resources:
1. The Mayo Clinic offers an excellent overview of your options and considerations in making a decision.
2. Dinah at Shrink Rap, a blog by psychiatrists, explains how she matches patients with a particular antidepressant.
The second resource should be of particular value before you discuss a prescription with your doctor or psychiatrist.
Lipitor was the most frequently prescribed brand-name drug in the United States last year, with 50 million prescriptions being filled. Vytorin was right up there, with 20 million. Add in all the other statins and you’re up to an amazing 150 million.
As you might expect, we’ve had a fair amount of discussion in the eDrugSearch.com Community about statin drugs, which are used for the treatment of high cholesterol. People are most interested in understanding and comparing the benefits of Lipitor, Zocor and Crestor. Zocor is currently available in generic form in the U.S., but the other two drugs are not.
Vytorin, of course, is on the outs these days after research showed in January that this combination drug (essentially a combination of Zocor and Zetia) is no more effective than generic Zocor alone (simvastin).
One juicy morsel in John McCain’s recently released medical records is that he switched from Vytorin to simvastin after the study came out.
So, of the statins, should you go with Lipitor, Zocor or Crestor? As always, the reaction of individuals to different treatments varies widely, so what often happens is a doctor starts you on one, and if it’s ineffective or you experience side effects, he switches you to another.
Dr. Nicholas Browning provides a nice overview of the benefits of statins in this column in The Union newspaper of Grass Valley, Calif. A recent Houston Chronicle column, however, focuses more on the side effects of these drugs — principally muscle pain and weakness — and says that doctors too often downplay these negatives.
Although your doctor should help you decide which statin to try first, Crestor has been shown to be the most effective statin for lowering LDL cholesterol, followed by Lipitor and then Zocor. However, the side effects for Crestor may be more pronounced in some patients.
Unfortunately, even though your doctor may wish to put you on Crestor or Lipitor, insurance companies often push doctors hard to prescribe generics. We encourage you to use the best drug for you.
Yeah, I know; I’ve written about this topic before — more than a few times. But I feel compelled to do so again. Frankly, I’m mad as heck and I can’t take it any more.
Just as there have been past hysterias blaming the Internet for sexual predators, pornography, political polarization, celebrity obsession, obesity (go outside and play!) and every other social malady facing our nation, now it seems the media is whipping itself into a frenzy over the dangers of Internet pharmacies.
The latest blog post I flagged on this topic, “Internet Pharmacy Websites the New Drug Dealers,” referenced a sad tale on CNN.com headlined, “My husband died from online drugs.”
Don’t get me wrong. I know that buying drugs online can be dangerous; that’s precisely why I started eDrugSearch.com — to provide a safe haven, where online pharmacies have been pre-screened for safety.
But let’s be clear here: in the case described on CNN, and in most cases of online drug abuse, the person buying the drugs is doing so without a prescription. They know this is wrong, and for this reason, the are specifically seeking out rogue pharmacies.
The problem of teenagers illegally purchasing drugs online has gotten a lot of attention — and rightly so. It’s a very real problem. But you can’t blame the Internet for this, any more than you can blame the highway for traffic accidents. And you can’t blame legitimate pharmacies, either.
In the same way that a prescription drug abuser can find a criminal (be it a friend or a stranger on a street corner) to sell them Vicodin, they can also find a criminal online to do the same. It’s no different.
So let’s focus our media attention — and law enforcement efforts — on stopping the criminal behavior, rather than tarring all Internet pharmacies with the same broad brush.
Now, why don’t we look a little more closely at the sources of the current controversy with Internet pharmacies. We have two main problems:
Problem 1. There are a lot of rogue pharmacies out there — as you can readily see every day when you check your e-mail and your spam folder is full of solicitations to buy Viagra and Xanax. Chasing these illegal operations down has been difficult for the FDA. It’s like policing anything over the Internet — very difficult.
Problem 2. Politics is getting in the way of addressing Problem 1.
How’s that? Let me explain –
Consumer reimportation of medications from Canada is heavily favored by the U.S. public. Obviously, a licensed Canadian pharmacy is just as safe as a licensed U.S. pharmacy. But unfortunately, because of the influence of Big Pharma, the Bush Administration and the FDA have done all they can to block reimportation.
Fortunately, they gave up on the idea of confiscating consumer purchases. But what they have done instead is confuse consumers — by giving the public the impression that ordering your Lipitor from a licensed Canadian pharmacy is somehow not as safe as buying it from a licensed U.S. pharmacy.
In their rhetoric, the FDA associates these legal, long-established, perfectly safe pharmacies with the rogue operations. If you ask me, it’s an intentional deception to appease Big Pharma. But whatever the motive, it’s factually inaccurate.
It also leads the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) to list legitimate pharmacies alongside bad ones in its list of 79 online pharmacies to avoid, which it announced in a press release this week. The legit pharmacies are on the list simply because they are headquartered in Canada.
How sad that is, and what a mess for consumers.
eDrugSearch.com has stepped into the fray to try to clear up the confusion and offer a safe place for consumers. We suggest you use our list rather than the NABP’s, because — well — it’s actually rational. You know the pharmacies have been checked out. And that frees you to focus on saving money, which is why you’re shopping online in the first place.
I want to be very clear here: Buying prescription drugs online is a good thing! It’s more convenient. It’s more private. It’s less expensive because it gives you the necessary tools to comparison shop, both domestically and internationally.
As long as you’re shopping from pharmacies that you know are safe, and you’re not a criminal yourself, you’ll be fine online. More than fine.
Happy shopping.
Jo Hartley reports:
“Health insurance companies are currently revising their pricing systems for very expensive drugs and they are now requiring patients to pay hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars for prescriptions for drugs that may save their lives or slow the progress of serious diseases.
“With the new pricing system, insurers have now abandoned the traditional arrangement in which patients pay a fixed amount for a prescription regardless of what the drug’s actual cost. Instead, now they are charging patients a percentage of the cost of certain high-priced drugs. This percentage is usually 20 to 33 percent and obviously this can amount to thousands of dollars a month for some patients.”
Hartley continues: “It is not known how many patients are affected, but hundreds of drugs are now being priced this new way. These drugs are used to treat diseases that are fairly common, including multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, hepatitis C and some kinds of cancer. Unfortunately, there are no generic equivalents for these drugs, so patients are being forced to pay these prices or go without.”
This is not a new phenomenon, but anecdotal reports suggest it is increasingly rapidly — both in the number of insurers who employ this cost-splitting approach and in the number of high-priced drugs included in such plans.
I have a friend on a oral chemotherapy drug who, despite being fully insured through her employer, was still forced to pay thousands of dollars for her medication. Needless to say, this came as a shock to her. It’s hard enough to go through chemo without having to pay thousands of dollars for a few bottles of pills.
Insurers keep moving the goalposts on the definition of “being covered” in this country. Standards of coverage pale in comparison to what they were 20 or even 10 years ago. And yet the premiums continue to increase far more rapidly than the inflation rate.
If you’re forced into a situation where you must pay a high percentage of your drug costs rather than a flat co-pay, we encourage you to consider shopping at eDrugSearch.com as an alternative. And please feel free to join the discussion — we love letting people vent! — within the eDrugSearch.com Community.
