For thos e whose budgets are crippled by the high cost of their prescription or over-the-counter drugs, there are some frugal ways to save money. One is pill splitting. Although still somewhat controversial, it is becoming a popular method of cutting back on the cost of medications. Some of the largest health care providers are even encouraging their members to consider doing it.
It is important to stress that this must not be done without first consulting the prescribing doctor and a pharmacist as not all medications can be split.
So how does pill splitting work? Drug companies often charge a similar rate on varying doses of medication. As an example, an on-line pharmacy charged $14.99 for 30 tablets of 50 mg. Zoloft and $15.99 for 30 tablets of 100 mg. of the same medication. This is because the highest part of the cost is not the ingredients but in making the pill itself.
With this medication, by purchasing the higher dose and splitting them, you would save around $7 a month.
Every time a prescription is filled a dispensing fee is attached to the price. This becomes a significant expense for anyone needing multiple renewals of a medication. As this fee can varies from place to place, it is worthwhile doing a search for the area you live in. Just type in the area you live in and add "dispensing fee". It is quite surprising to see what a variance there is. The lowest prices are usually at the larger national chains such as Costco and Wal-Mart but they count on you doing some shopping while you wait for your prescription to be filled. Pill splitting would save you money on dispensing fees as you would be paying the fee less often.
Pill splitting is not to be taken lightly as getting the exact dosage is always important. Do not attempt to split the pills with a knife or razor. A handy and inexpensive pill splitting tool can be purchased from a pharmacy and it allows you to split the pill exactly in half.
It is also advised that the pills be split one at a time and each half taken on consecutive days within a two day period to ensure you are getting an accurate dosage.
We'd all like to save money on medications especially if it can be done safely and with the approval of our health care providers.
