Heart Patients Skipping Meds Because Of Cost

For patients recovering from heart ailments, proper medication is a key step to better help. But it turns out many patients don’t take their prescribed medicine, or do so intermittently. Why?

In a study appearing in the April issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Mayo Clinic researchers found the drugs' cost is one of the biggest reasons.

Not filling prescriptions

"We found patients weren't filling their prescriptions because of the expense," said Shannon Dunlay, M.D., Mayo Clinic cardiologist and lead author.

While some health benefit plans cover the cost of expensive drugs, with only a small co-pay to the patient, those without such benefits have to pay the full amount. And those costs can be steep.

In the study, patients ages 60 to 86 were asked how often they missed doses or didn't take drugs at all, and why. Researchers found that younger patients were slightly more likely to skip certain heart medications than older patients. Men were less likely than women to stick to certain drug regimens.

Expense

When researchers asked the patients who did a poor job following prescriptions why they weren’t taking their medicines, financial concern was the main reason. Within the group, 46 percent reported that they had stopped taking statins or not filled a prescription because of cost, and 23 percent acknowledged skipping doses to save money.

Although 77 percent of patients in the study were eligible for Medicare, medication costs were still an important issue for some of them. Patients worried about costs should discuss the issue with their physicians. There are often lower-cost alternatives.

Dr. Dunlay is interviewed about her findings in the video below: