First, the one-two punch that brought us down…

The December 2007 recession contributed to a dramatic rise in unemployment in the United States, leaving many people without benefits and – as a result – proper medical care. Floridians were hit particularly hard as the state went from a 3.8% to a 12% rate of unemployment over the last decade. Combine that with the BP oil spill on April 20, 2011 and you’ve got declining incomes in the Southern United States due to lack of tourism – the prime economic-boosting industry in the state. In short, those that were working, were working harder for less money.

Meanwhile, the health care industry is faced with an increase in chronic conditions among adults – partially due to individuals lacking the ability to afford preventative care – resulting in greater spending by employers trying to cover the ongoing costs in the form of benefits.

With both insured and uninsured Floridians being unable to take preventative steps in their own health and well-being, this lack of care eventually translates into more doctor’s visits, hospitalization and an overall increase in both physical problems and medical costs – Costs which could have been prevented had that patient been able to get the prescription drugs that they needed before the problem escalated.

Making a comeback in the fifth round…

What people may not know is that from 1999-2005, America saw a drop in the cost of prescriptions due to generic drugs being introduced on the market and insurance companies offering tiered co-pays. Our overall spending went from 18% to 6%.

Then, In 2006, that rate went back up to 9% due to designer drugs and better medications to replace those with potentially harmful long-term side-effects. More expensive, yes, but still better overall because now we have the potential of more effective, generic drugs available at a fraction of the cost.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, approximately 80% of drugs currently have a generic equivalent. If that’s the case, why aren’t we using them?

This brings us back to what we’ve been saying all along – the BetterRxCard discount drug program provides an alternative to high-cost drugs, and Equivameds can help find the generic equivalent to otherwise expensive designer medications. Now, employers, the insured and the uninsured can afford benefits that include better quality preventative drugs.

Reduced Spending = Preventative Care = Healthier Floridians

See the trend?

Consumers get frustrated with loopholes and limitations. The “this is free…except” becomes tiring after a while. That’s why we’re proud of the BetterRxCard program. There are no geographic boundaries, no formulary limitations and no usage restrictions.

No Boundaries

With more than 60,000 participating pharmacies, users are not limited by region. If you find a drug store that carries your prescription for less, there’s a good chance the BetterRxCard can save you even more. This is also convenient while traveling, when your neighborhood pharmacy is not an option. Got mobile? You can access the BetterRxCard site with your mobile phone and find participating pharmacies, even while on the go.

No Formulary Limitations

Drugs approved by your insurer are broken down into approximately three tiers. For example, your co-pay on a medication may be $10, $25 or $50, depending on which tier your insurer says it falls under. Recently, you may have noticed that your lower-tiered prescription has moved up a tier. Consequently, it’s become more expensive.

We’ve noticed that too.

You may have also found that your prescription is no longer covered by insurance, forcing your doctor to choose a cheaper – approved – drug. If you already have a prescription that’s working for you, why switch to something with unknown side effects? If your drug is excluded, you may still be able to get it for about the cost of your original co-pay, sometimes for less.

What about weight loss, birth control, lifestyle drugs and other exclusions?

Our discount drug card includes many prescriptions not covered by insurance, such as weight loss and birth control pills and lifestyle drugs (including Viagra and Cialis). Millions of people take Coumadin each day. Exclude by many. Claritin D? Excluded. Nexium? Boniva? Synthroid? Excluded. Excluded. Excluded.

No Usage Restrictions

With the BetterRxCard, you can use one card for your family or provide each family member with his or her own card. There’s no fee and it doesn’t matter if one family member is insured, while another is not. In fact, the plan is so inclusive that even your pets are covered.

To get your free prescription drug card, click here.

For anyone that is familiar with our EquivaMeds service over the past 3+ years, you know we quote from Kaiser Family Foundation quite a bit. I find their research and analysis on health care issues to be fair and pretty illuminating at times.

Each year they put out new research on the state of health insurance in America; how many have it or do not, where people get it from, broken down by policy type, how much you pay, co-pay, coinsurance, yadda yadda yadda.

And if you follow this and other stories out there you see co-pay costs going up each year. It started about 10 or so years ago, remember? Back then we all had three tier formularies that started at $5 or $10 and grew to maybe $30.

The something called “cost shifting” came to play and you saw those numbers go up and the difference between tiers grow wider. For our insurance this year, that means a $20 tier 1, $50 tier 2 and, gulp, $70 tier 3.  Not to mention that there are more exclusions on our formulary than ever before. What’s an exclusion? Believe me, you will be hearing more and more about them going forward.

This is why we build EquivaMeds years ago, to try to find options, and why we rolled out BetterRxCard last year.  But in the interest of providing a valuable resource and not just a marketing blog, I wanted to bring your attention to this article from Lisa Zamosky. It emphasizes some of the things I’ve tweeted and may have blogged on in the past, but goes beyond by talking about PAP programs and a useful web site to help get a handle on drug pricing.

Enjoy.