Drug and Alcohol Rehabs Blog

Medications Increase Cost of Health Care, Rehabs

August 17, 2009 on 5:01 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments

As our society becomes more and more inundated with advertisements for new drugs we see a larger percentage of the population taking these prescriptions.  As a result, prescription drug abuse has spread like wildfire and health care costs have skyrocketed to the point were millions hard-working American families cannot afford insurance for themselves.

Brand-name prescription drugs for the top-selling medications in the United States can cost as much as several hundred dollars per month.  Liberal and irresponsible prescribing practices by millions of physicians have landed tens of millions of people on drugs that they don’t even need.  In addition to that, the side effects associated with many of these drugs can create additional symptoms, for wich the recommended treatment is yet another drug.  It’s a vicious circle that makes the consumers out to be the losers because either they pay too much, go on government health assistance or have no coverage at all.  None of these are ideal situations.

This practice has of course bled over into the field of drug addiction treatment, which has not only been left do deal with many of the dependency problems created by some of these prescriptions in the first place, but has also lost funding support because insurance companies would rather continue paying for prescriptions than paying for successful rehabilitation.

If we want to really create change within our national health care, then the start has to be the dismantling of the pay-to-play relationship between the Federal government and the pharmaceutical industry.  Regulations must be put in on clinical trials, lobbying efforts, marketing plans and prescribing practices.  Not only will this lower the cost of health care to make it more affordable for Americans, but it will also make a healthier America with tens of millions of people not taking potentially harfmul drugs that they don’t need.