Medication costs are an issue for a lot of people. There is a large percentage of people who choose not to take medications, or find ways to stretch out their medication just because they cannot afford it. One of the options you have is to investigate online pharmacies like PricePro Canadian Pharmacy. You can get all kinds of medications there including critical care medicines, and they are likely to be less expensive. The savings vary depending on the medicines. One of the ways you can save is to ask for the generic medication rather than the brand name. Here is a closer look.

What are generic drugs?

There are brand-name medications and generic ones. Generic refers to the active ingredient in the medication. An example is Synthroid is the brand name and the active ingredient or generic is atorvastatin. The holder of the patent can then charge what they want. There is essentially a time limit on how long the brand can hold onto the right of the medication. When that time runs out, other companies can make the medication but a generic version. This means you might start out on a brand drug but if some time has passed now you could look into if a generic version is available. This is the case for critical care medicines too.

A lot of medicines have a generic version and the generic is less expensive. Sometimes it costs a lot less, sometimes a little. It costs less in part because they are just copying the drug, they have not had to invest a lot into its development. The generic works just as well, it has the same active ingredient. The average cost savings is 70 to 85%! You can talk to your doctor or pharmacist about whether you are on the generic version and is not whether you can swap to it. Just as the price of brand drugs can vary from one pharmacy to another so can generic medications. There are places online where you can look up the name of the generic version of the brand drug you are using too.

Is one more effective than the other?

No, generic medicines are the same as the brand name medication. They are just as safe and as effective. It has to pass all the same expectations the brand name version had to go through. Everyone can enjoy savings with generic medications even if you have insurance, or if you are on Medicare.

Online pharmacies and generic medications

Using an online pharmacy like PricePro Canadian Pharmacy saves you money on your critical care medications and other prescribed treatments. They have a wider range of generic medications to offer than physical pharmacies. If you moved all of your medications from brand names to generic versions as well as all your families, those savings could be significant. Talk to your doctor about making sure their prescription is for the more affordable option. It is possible that if there is not a generic version of the medicine there might be an alternative treatment that does have a generic option.