Stroke survivors often have difficulty affording prescription drugs
Buying drugs from a Canadian online pharmacy could make prescription medications more affordable for many Americans.
Buying drugs from a Canadian online pharmacy could make prescription medications more affordable for many Americans. Stroke survivors are among the group of people who are most likely to experience difficulty in paying for much-needed medicine, according to a study presented at this year's International Stroke Conference of the American Stroke Association.
Lead investigator Deborah A. Levine and her colleagues from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor evaluated data from 2,656 stroke survivors over the age of 45. They compared these individuals' cost-related nonadherence to prescription drugs during the previous 12 months to information collected between 1998 and 2002, before the implementation of Medicare Part D.
The researchers found that in 2009, about 11 percent of stroke survivors reported cost-related nonadherence to drugs. Although 42 percent of Medicare beneficiaries had the Part D prescription medication plan, nonadherence was twice as high among those in this group compared to that of people without the plan.
"Healthcare professionals need to screen for cost-related barriers to medication in stroke survivors, particularly those who are younger, uninsured or enrolled in Medicare Part D, and to improve access to affordable medications for post-stroke patients who need it," Levine stated.
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