Free Drug Samples
Bottom Line
Free medication samples can sometimes end up costing you more. Always consider generic drug equivalents if your doctor recommends them.
Drug representatives from pharmaceutical companies sometimes hand out free samples to doctors' offices. Some of these samples end up in the hands of the patient and for the underinsured or uninsured, this can obviously save some money up-front. But is there really money being saved? This post won't consider actual numeric costs since drug prices are different; rather we're just going to talk about the general cost issues associated with free samples given to patients.
One problem arises if the drugs are part of a prescription regimen. Once started, it's often recommended to finish the course, and this entails buying the remainder of the prescription (after your free sample runs out) even if it is much more expensive than a similar generic drug. Sometimes there's no way to avoid this since the free sample medication is the only drug that will treat the disease. Just remember to not blindly accept a free sample of medication unless you don't mind paying for it once your sample runs out. If a generic drug suits you, that might be the best option. Always ask for all your options and then decide which is the best for your health and wallet.
Free medication samples can sometimes end up costing you more. Always consider generic drug equivalents if your doctor recommends them.
Drug representatives from pharmaceutical companies sometimes hand out free samples to doctors' offices. Some of these samples end up in the hands of the patient and for the underinsured or uninsured, this can obviously save some money up-front. But is there really money being saved? This post won't consider actual numeric costs since drug prices are different; rather we're just going to talk about the general cost issues associated with free samples given to patients.
One problem arises if the drugs are part of a prescription regimen. Once started, it's often recommended to finish the course, and this entails buying the remainder of the prescription (after your free sample runs out) even if it is much more expensive than a similar generic drug. Sometimes there's no way to avoid this since the free sample medication is the only drug that will treat the disease. Just remember to not blindly accept a free sample of medication unless you don't mind paying for it once your sample runs out. If a generic drug suits you, that might be the best option. Always ask for all your options and then decide which is the best for your health and wallet.
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