Drugs

All of this anger and complaining about the cost of prescription drugs ignores the main reasons so many of the elderly and aging of the American population are taking 4 or more medications for various ailments. Instead of modifying their poor or destructive lifestyles and habits, the doctor prescribes another pill.

Before the advent of many of these costly medications, the ailments were treated by better diets or other lifestyle modifications. Almost everyone of my mother’s generation is taking a blood pressure, a cholesterol, and a heart medication. Many are also taking anti-depressants and diabetes medications. Some of these daily pills are $15.00 each. Few of this and future generations are making the lifestyle changes that previous generations did when all of these expensive drugs were not available.

I am afflicted with acid reflux. Is this a new ailment, newly discovered since the invention of Prilisec? No, it is an ailment which in the past was treated by a change in diet and eating habits. Billions of aging humans, in the past, have changed their habits to get relief from acid reflux. What does medicine do today? Issue a prescription for drug which creates a perpetual $50.00 a month cost for the patient/insurance company, a unessential profit for the drug manufacturer and another notch on the rising cost of medical coverage. Why should I inhibit my lifestyle and quit eating all of those greasy and spicy foods I like, when the doctor can prescribe a pill and everyone else will help me pay for it.