Several studies came out this week that reveled that Americans who don’t take prescribed medications waste billions annually because the missed doses lead to emergency room visits and hospitalizations and further health complications that only end driving health care costs even higher.

The study by Express Scripts, an independent prescription- filling company, says the problem costs $258 billion a year, while a second study Harvard University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital put the figure at $290 billion. Both studies analyzed data from their own customers, insurance payouts, previous research and surveys to come with the multiple billion-dollar cost associated with prescription nonadherence.

The researchers also found that more than half of people who believe they take their medications properly are not, and this also leads to the drugs not working as effectively as they should. All prescriptions should come with clear instructions from your personal doctor, as well as your pharmacist. At Canada Drugs, our team of licensed pharmacists is available any time for consultations to assist you in developing the best action plan for your health care. We value your health and want to make sure that our patients always clearly understand what drugs they are taking and any special instructions that are required.

People don’t take their medications because they forget to refill their prescriptions, forget to take them, feel they don’t need them or find them too expensive. At CanadaDrugs.com we work to stop these barriers to taking your drugs. We will remind you well in advance of when a refill is needed, and most importantly we are passionate about working to provide our customers with lower priced drugs so they can afford them.

The studies talked about here have shown that as many as 25% of people who get a prescription because they have visited a doctor with a medical-related problem don’t bother to fill that prescription. Other studies have shown that up to 50% of the people who are chronically ill and need medications stop taking their medications within a year.  When the reason for prescription nonadherence is cost, it is important that people have the affordable alterative that Canada Drugs offers. Our international medication and equivalent generics can often reduce the out-of-pocket costs on prescriptions by 40%-80% and allow people the opportunity to buy the medication they need.