Ciara, you should ask your pharmacist for the generic of your medication. If this is not available as the drug is still on patent, you should request that your doctor change your medication to one that has a generic available. There are a large number of asthma medications available so this should really not be a problem.

everyone is entitled to the drugs payment scheme, you just have to fill out a form…

You’re wrong.

DPS is the scheme which caps the monthly cost of medicines for private patients / families at 132 euro. all private prescriptions (with the exception of a few items) are eligible to be covered by this scheme. ask your pharmacy for an application form.

they should really know the drug name in the first place though… generic prescribing should be mandatory for all government funded schemes. problem is a huge number of patients refuse generics because they think cheaper = inferior.

High cholesterol is rarely genetic and is usually diet related. A simple change of diet would cost less money.

@ Ciara, my doctor tells me I have bad cholesterol and that it’s hereditary so some can be genetic. Not everything is down to bad diet.

Gerry, I said its ‘rarely’ genetic not ‘never’ genetic.

Well I have hereditary cholesterol as do my siblings. I couldn’t afford the Lipitor so any decrease would be welcome.

just ask for simvastatin. just as effective as lipitor, but much much cheaper.

the people I’m referring to are senior citizens in their late 70′s, 80′s and 90′s I’m pretty sure most of them have a better diet than a lot of kids, porridge for breakfast, meat potatoes and veg for lunch, sandwich for lunch Gillian mckeith mightn’t recommend it but its not a bad diet.

Correlation does not imply causation Helena. A generic is so called because it is exactly the same medicine but manufactured off patent, usually by a different manufacturer. They are subjected to FDA approval etc and should be of the same standard. If these people are having reactions to the medication they should report it as soon as possible to the pharmacist as they pass this information on to the manufacturer.
Any more questions here is a reputable source: http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/BuyingUsingMedicineSafely/UnderstandingGenericDrugs/default.htm

As for this reduction in the price of off patent medicines; Why do we have to buy the drugs from the original patent holder, why can’t the government buy the generic drugs! I’m sure there is more than a 30% difference in price between generic and the original patent holders drugs!