Banana Splits

Here is a way that many people are saving money on pharmaceuticals. I don’t recommend doing it, as it can be dangerous, but when faced with the rising cost of prescription drugs, many people don’t have a choice.

What people are doing is having a larger dose pill prescribed to them and then splitting the pill into the dose they really need.

For example, if a person needs to take a 40mg Lipitor pill, they could purchase a single dose at $5.23 or they can purchase an 80mg dose and split the pill in 2, taking half the pill each day. Since an 80mg pill costs the same $5,23 as the 40mg variety, they instantly save 50% off of the normal cost of their prescription.

Of course, in order to do this, you need to have the cooperation of your doctor. They not only have to agree to prescribe you the larger dose, they need to prescribe the pill to be taken ‘as needed’ instead of once daily. Otherwise, your prescription carrier may get wise and demand to share in the savings when they realize that you are refilling your 30 day prescription only once every 60 days. You also need to be careful that you split the pill evenly so that you always get the correct dose.

Even greater savings are to be had by those who require an even lower daily dose. If you need only 10mg of Lipitor a day, you could either pay the $3.83 for the single pill or you could split the $5.23 80mg pill into 8 smaller doses which would bring your cost per dose down to a mere 42 cents. Of course, splitting a pill so finely and precisely is no easy matter. You would probably need some fairly sophisticated equipment and skills to perform this type of thing reliably. But, at a $1,244.00 per year savings for this one prescription alone, it might be well worth your while to acquire this equipment and skills.

This is exactly the type of thing that your local pharmacist used to be adept at. Perhaps there is a new business opportunity here?

The real eye-opener here is that the cost of the medication really has no correlation to the retail price of these pills. Why else would the 40mg Lipitor pill sell for the same amount as the 80mg? The closer one looks at the true retail costs of these drugs, the more obvious it becomes that the entire system is out of whack. This is not a matter of supply and demand – manufacturers can make as much or as little of these drugs as the world may need. When you buy a prescription drug, you’re obviously not paying for the value of the active ingredient – you’re paying what the market will bear. That’s okay for luxury and non-essential items, but when it comes to things that are essential for one’s life and well being, it is downright criminal. What would happen if bakers sold loaves of bread for $25.00 each, and you were only allowed to buy one particular brand of bread – no comparison shopping? What if a Jumbo size loaf costs the same as a small loaf? Would you tolerate it? I don’t think so. Yet, this is exactly the type of behavior that we put up with when dealing with prescription drugs.

When our lives and health are placed on the block for the sake of corporate profit, it should be a crime – and those perpetuating that crime should be prosecuted – or at least persecuted. In any event, they should not be allowed to continue with this behavior. If they are, we all may find ourselves being unable to afford the medicines we need.


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