TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Insurers Push To Use Cheaper Drugs

ADVERTISEMENT

@tampatrib.com

Published: December 13, 2008

Health insurers have long promoted switching from brand-name medicines to cheaper generics, but now more of them are going further: urging people to take different drugs altogether.

A half-dozen insurers recently sent letters to tens of thousands of Florida patients taking brand names, saying coverage will halt or co-payments will increase Jan. 1. The companies suggest people ask their doctors about changing to cheaper drugs to save up to 80 percent.

But some doctors and pharmacists say switching drugs to save money - in some cases several times a year - could expose patients to health complications and drugs that don't work well for them.

"It's not a matter of getting you, the patient, the best medication. It's a matter of insurers' not having to pay as much for it," says Miami neurologist Bruce S. Rubin, who heads a Florida group opposing such substitutions.

Low-cost generics, which are chemically identical to brand names they copy, account for two-thirds of the 3.9 billion prescriptions written yearly in the United States. Studies show they work equally well.

But brand names still account for 84 percent of total drug spending. So health plans are asking consumers and doctors to try different drugs that have gone generic, such as cholesterol drug simvastatin (generic Zocor) at less than $1 per pill in place of Lipitor, which has no generic, at $3 per pill.
Insurance officials say their intent is to educate people to ask their doctors about lower-cost choices that may work well and save money. It's still up to doctors what drugs patients should take, says Conchita Ruiz-Topinka, a spokeswoman for insurer AvMed.

"All the plans are doing the same type of thing," she says. "Drugs that have been effective are being brought to market as generics. There are opportunities to save. We wouldn't do it if there weren't a safe and effective alternative out there."

Blue Cross Blue Shield, for example, is urging patients with acid reflux to consider omeprazole (generic Prilosec) instead of brand-name drugs Nexium, Prevacid or Aciphex, none of which has generic versions. Medco, a pharmacy manager for insurers covering 60 million people, is promoting generic sleep drugs in place of Lunesta and Rozerem.

Pompano Beach medical clerk Ann Moslowitz was among thousands to get a letter from AvMed Health. Co-pays for her two longtime drugs, Lipitor and Avapro, for blood pressure, will jump from $40 a month to about $200 next year. She can avoid the increase by switching to a different cholesterol drug, simvastatin, and other blood pressure pills.

But Moslowitz, 61, says only Lipitor lowers her cholesterol to healthy levels. Of the blood pressure pills, eight work differently from her drug, and one didn't help.

"I've been scooted around so much among drugs and finally found drugs that work for me. I don't want to be anyone's guinea pig anymore," she says.

Sun Sentinel of South Florida

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT