Great idea to save on your medicine bills

Introduction:

Every allopathic medicine available in the market has two names.

1.  Generic name or drug name:

This is actual chemical substance or active ingredient of the medicine.It is actual drug name that works to serve your purpose.

Ex:  Acetaminophene,dipenhydramine,botolinium toxin etc

2 . Brand Name:

This is the name doctors write on your prescription sheet. Brand name is set by pharmaceutical companies who manufacture the actual drug and release it in the market after getting required licences.One drug/medicine may be manufactured by so many pharma companies and they give their own brand name for the same drug.One brand name may contain more than one active ingredient. This is very useful for doctors to prescribe a single brand name for two or more ailments like fever,cold etc

Ex: Saridon(contains paracetamol and caffeine),benadryl(contains dipen hydramine and other ingradients)

Idea to reduce medicine costs:

If you purchase medicines in large quantities for long time for any of your loved ones, this idea is going to save you much expenses on your medicine bills.The idea is to purchase same medicine or generic prescribed by your doctor but a different brand which is cheaper than your doctor has written.Doctors do not have enough time to compare medicine prices and prescribe you the medicine with best price.So,they prescribe you the most popular brands in the market.But these brand's medicines are expensive than other brands. 

How to get medicine with best price in the market?

1. Read and note down the brand name written by your doctor in your prescription sheet

2. Search for the brand name on medicine data base websites like medguideindia.com to find the generic names or active ingredients of your medicine's brand name.For countries other than India, you can search in google for your countries medicine data base websites.

For example in the above screen shot,The medicine prescribed by doctor is FILFIRE 25 mg tablets.
Search for brand name FILFIRE on the medicine data base website in brand name field.

3.You will get the relevant information of the medicine like manufacturer name, brand,price etc.Then click on active ingredients/Matched brands link.

4. In this page,you will see active ingredient of the drug,why it is prescribed,contradictions,precautions etc.Click on matched brands with above ingredients link

Now you will see a pop up with all other brands of your medicine along with price and every important detail.

5. Compare the price of the other brands with brand doctor has prescribed you. Most of the times,you will find cheaper brands with the same ingredients required for you..Ensure here that your medicines active ingredient and dosage do not change.You can select a brand name with best price for your medicine.

7. Calculate your savings for the quantity of the medicines you are going to purchase over the period of time.If you find the savings are appreciable,you can purchase those alternative brands available in the market and save on your medical bills

8. You can visit medical shops with doctors prescription sheet and ask for the alternative brand of best price you have chosen and purchase them.

All the brands in the market are licensed by government,So you can choose any brand.If you have any doubt about safety of other brands,you can talk to your doctor and proceed.

It is always advised to talk to your doctor before going for alternative brands.

Hope this idea helps you.Thanks for visiting.