Don't be afraid to ask. The drug companies supply doctors with lots of free samples. Its an inexpensive way for them to do marketing in hopes the doctor will prescribe their drug.My mother suffers from Alzheimer's disease and uses the drug Aricept. The retail cost of the drug here in Delray Beach is $166 for 30 pills. Yesterday our doctor gave us the sample pack of Aricept. Since my mother takes 10 mg daily this came to a 20 day supply. My mother is in the Medicare doughnut hole so we pay the full retail price for the drug at this time of year. He also gave us samples of Benicar. We realized out of pocket savings of more than $150 for the month. Last year, thanks to our Doctor and free drug samples we saved more than $900 on our prescription drug medication bill.
So rule number one for cutting your medical costs: Ask the doctor if he has any free samples of the drug available.
More Insight and Advice for Caregivers
- How Alzheimer's Destroys the Brain -- Video
- Test Your Memory for Alzheimer's (5 Best Self Assessment Tests)
- What is Alzheimer's Disease?
- What is Dementia?
- What’s the Difference Between Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia
- Communicating in Alzheimer's World
- How the Loss of Memory Works in Alzheimer’s Disease, and How Understanding This Could Help You
- Learning How to Communicate with Someone Suffering From Alzheimer's Disease
- Alzheimer's World -- Trying to Reconnect with Someone Suffering from Alzheimer's Disease
- Does the Combination of Aricept and Namenda Help Slow the Rate of Decline in Alzheimer's Patients
- 100 Good Reasons to Subscribe to the Alzheimer's Reading Room Now
Bob DeMarco is the Founder of the Alzheimer's Reading Room and an Alzheimer's caregiver. The blog contains more than 2,910 articles with more than 652,100 links on the Internet. Bob lives in Delray Beach, FL.
  Creating Moments of Joy: A Journal for Caregivers, Fourth Edition |  The 36-Hour Day A Family Guide to Caring for People with Alzheimer Disease |
Original content Bob DeMarco, the Alzheimer's Reading Room
