One in seven Americans under age 65 went without prescribed medicines in 2007 as drug costs spiraled upward in the United States, a nonprofit research group said on Thursday.
That figure is up substantially since 2003, when one in 10 people under 65 went without a prescription drug because they couldn’t afford it, according to the Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington, D.C.
The current figure may be even higher because of the recent economic downturn, said Laurie E. Felland, a senior health researcher at the center and lead author of the study.
“Our findings are particularly troublesome given the increased reliance on prescription drugs to treat chronic conditions,” she added. “People who go without their
experience worsening health and complications.”
The people who were least able to afford medicine were often those who needed it most, Ms. Felland said: uninsured, working-age adults suffering from at least one chronic medical condition. Almost two-thirds of them in the survey said they had gone without filling a prescription.
provided by their employers were affected: one in 10 working-age Americans with employer-sponsored coverage went without a prescription medication in 2007, up from 8.7 percent in 2003, the study found.
Among low-income Americans, three in 10 said they had been unable to fill a prescription because of cost, and nearly one in four adults on
or state insurance programs said they’d had difficulty affording drugs.
Ms. Felland said a number of factors contributed to the trend, including rising drug prices, the tendency of physicians to prescribe drugs more frequently, the introduction of expensive new specialty medications, and skimpier drug coverage that shifts a greater share of costs onto patients.
“Insurance coverage offers less financial protection against out-of-pocket costs than it did in the past,” she said.
The study was based on results from the 2007 Health Tracking Household Survey, a nationally representative telephone survey of 10,400 adults under age 65, many of whom also discussed affordability of medications for their 2,600 children. Participants were asked whether there was a time in the previous 12 months when “you needed prescription medicines but didn’t get them because you couldn’t afford it.”
Overall, 5 percent of children didn’t have prescriptions filled in 2007 because of cost, up from 3.1 percent in 2003, and 17.8 percent of working-age adults couldn’t afford drugs in 2007, up from 13.8 percent in 2003, the survey found. That translates into about 36.1 million Americans under 65 who were affected, according to the study.
Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that researches health care issues, said the new study confirms previous Commonwealth studies. In 2007, nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults, or an estimated 116 million people, struggled to pay medical bills, went without needed care because of cost, were uninsured for a time or were underinsured, according to the foundation.
“It has become a middle class problem,” she added, noting that improving health coverage is an integral part of economic recovery.
“It’s not enough just to help people have jobs,” she said. “They need to have adequate coverage, so they can get care when they need it and pay the bills they incur when they do seek care.”

Maddona embarks on a new retox diet.
In 2009, instead of detoxing, pop star Madonna has decided to retox, reports Mirror.co.uk. The 50-year-old singer has decided to counteract the aging process by introducing more salmon into her diet.
“The new ‘retox’ means she has got a more cardio-intensive gym regime and a diet overhaul. She will also be eating a lot more salmon as it’s got age-defying properties,” a source told the website. “Her aim is to knock 12 years off her appearance.”
Madonna is known for the extensive measures she takes to stay young. She is rumored to work out 4 hours a day and spend $120,000 a year on blessed Kabbalah water, which supposedly keep the drinker young.
Liam Gallagher, singer for the British band Oasis, also eats salmon to stay in shape and vouches for Madonna’s new retox. “I’m always banging away at the fish man. My top three fish are salmon at number one, sea bass at two and sardines are third. My number one dish is f***ing salmon and stir-fry.”

on Friday, January 2nd, 2009 at 8:03 am and is filed under
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Jan. 13, 2009 — Eight out of 10 middle-aged and older Americans may benefit from treatment with
-lowering statin drugs, a new analysis suggests.
Researchers concluded that 11 million older people who are not considered candidates for treatment with statins under existing guidelines would qualify for treatment if guidelines were changed to reflect the findings of a landmark trial published last November.
Known as the JUPITER trial, that study was designed to determine if adults with normal-to-low cholesterol would benefit from statin treatment.
.
The trial was stopped early after the benefits of the therapy became clear.
Over an average of two years of treatment, participants who took the statin
, strokes, and deaths from cardiovascular causes as participants randomly assigned to receive a placebo.
Statins: Who Benefits?
In the newly reported analysis, researchers used a nationally representative health database to estimate the number of people who would be candidates for treatment with statins if current guidelines were changed to include people with normal low-density lipoprotein (
but elevated hsCRP.
Using data from the CDC’s 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), they concluded that:
33.5 million (25%) American men 50 and older and women 60 and older take a statin.
Based on existing guidelines, an additional 33% middle-aged and elderly people should be taking statins but are not.
11 million more middle-aged and older Americans (19%) would be considered candidates for statin therapy if guidelines were changed to include adults with elevated hsCRP.
“We are talking about millions of additional people who might benefit from treatment with statins, but there are many questions that remain unanswered,” says researcher Erica S. Spatz, MD, of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at Yale University, which funded the analysis.
It is not clear, for example, if the health benefits derived from treating millions of additional people justify the costs.
And the JUPITER trial also raised important questions about the role of hsCRP testing for determining cardiovascular risk.
Spatz points out that most of the people in the trial who were identified as new candidates for treatment with statins shared many of the characteristics of people who qualify for treatment under existing guidelines.
Who Should Be Tested?
Compared to people with no indication for treatment, the JUPITER patients were more likely to be female, elderly,
, and have
.
.
American Heart Association (AHA) President Timothy Gardner, MD, says identifying chronic inflammation in patients with these risk factors may be beneficial.
Gardner is medical director of the Center for Vascular Health at Christiana Care in Wilmington, Del.
“I think the idea of measuring the C-reactive protein biomarker in some patients is warranted, and I would probably start with patients who are obese, hypertensive, or have metabolic syndrome,” he tells WebMD.
While the new analysis suggests that the vast majority of elderly people in the U.S. would benefit from treatment with statins, Gardner urges caution.
“Some physicians might favor putting all older patients on statins, but it is important to remember that no drug is without potential risks,” he says. “The challenge in front of us is identifying those patients for whom this treatment is cost-effective and appropriate.”
Spatz did not participate in the JUPITER trial, which was funded by Crestor manufacturer AstraZeneca. Her study appears today in the AHA journal
Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

The Food and Drug Administration is warning people who may want to lose weight in the new year. WFMZ’s Melissa Batulis has more on a list of what may be hidden in your diet plan.
  REPORTER: They’re weight loss products that claim to be herbal or healthy. But it’s what they don’t say that has federal regulators and doctors worried. 
BANEY: At worst, could kill you. 
REPORTER: The FDA released a list of 25 weight loss pills including 7 Day Herbal Slim, Phyto Shape and Somotrim. The concern is that these products contain, but leave off their labels ingredients like a suspected carcinogen, drugs not approved in the U-S and even prescription medication. 
BANEY: Phenytoin is actually a medicine used for people who have seizures.
REPORTER: Dr. Philip Baney at Laureldale Family Medicine says he discourages his patients who want to lose weight from taking any kind of medicine to do so. 
BANEY: My first answer is the best way to lose weight is diet and exercise. 
STAND UP: Some of these products mimic the claims of FDA approved drugs. Slim Express promises to prevent the digestion of dietary fat. Dr. Baney says the over the counter drug Alli was approved by the FDA and does help block fat, but it still comes at a price. 
BANEY: Most folks don’t like that because it has some very unpleasant gastrointestinal side effects if you were to take that drug and then ingest a lot of fat. 
REPORTER: As for the pills in question, the FDA is in the process of investigating the companies that sell them…and product recalls are in the works. In the meantime, if you’ve taken any of those products, the FDA recommends you see your doctor. And Dr. Baney recommends that if you want to lose weight, make sure you’re ready to make that commitment. 
BANEY: If someone just wants a pill, chances are they’re not seriously ready to make the changes they need to get a healthy weight loss and maintain that. 
REPORTER: Melissa Batulis, 69 News Berks Edition.