As soon as I read the title of the article, I knew that MSNBC would insinuate that the prescriptions aren't filled because of "the cost".

MSNBC's first screw up is citing Massachusetts, the Commonwealth with guaranteed health coverage.

The depths of liberal desperation to Socialize the nation knows no limits.

I have not filled a perscription due to my doubt about the effectiveness of the medication not the cost. I've had mild congestion and recently was tested for allergies and all tests came back negative. The Dr said it was overexersion and inflammation of my airways. He prescribed nasal drops. I researched the medication and decided the side effects were worse than my congestion so I never filled the prescription. I was more worried about the inflammation issue and not the post nasal drip issue.

Most perscriptions I try to fill end up being more expensive that what I want to put into it.. even generic.. Doctor's get paid way too much and if we cut down the bills of everything then maybe this economy would be in such a terrible shape.. Plus we gave free reign to a moron who broke us and owe EVERYONE else probably for our lifetimes..

FOlks don't need to worry.........just watch TV and eventually you will see the drug that is right for you-------of course the side effects are numerous and the least of which is likely death, but it is caring of them to tell you up front about these things....and of course the ads always tell you to "ask your doctor"....does that mean the doctors are in kahoots with the drug companies?......

From where I sit the side effects look a lot worse than the problems that these drugs are trying to relieve.

Wake me when there is a cure.........THAT I would be interested in.

More and more people do not trust their physicians. Studies are done that show that huge percentages of patients do not disclose all their medications (especially over-the-counter and "natural" remedies.) More and more patients take prescriptions home, get on line and do their research before decidi9ng whether or not to have prescriptions filled. And reliable information is difficult to find, even on the web. You have everyone from scientologists who provide unreliable information on psychotropic drugs to pharmaceutical companies who use "puffery" to tout their wares. And worst of all, the FDA is aware that at least 30% of drugs perform no better than a placebo, but are not allowed to disclose which drugs (their only mission is to determine safety.) That FDA is also aware that the same dosage pill is NOT appropriate for both a 105-lb woman and a 350-lb man or a 16-year-old girl and a 95-year-old man, though they are prescribed that way. And the FDA knows that some drugs are much more effective than other drugs for the same condition, but are not allowed to say which are the most effective. All this adds in to the mistrust of the system and the feeling that for-profit medicine is not something that can be trusted.

Every prescription I've ever left unfilled was either because of cost, or because I saw some pharmaceutical company's ad that scared me to death with all those "possible side effects." I'm a single working Mom and a full-time college student--I can't afford side effects that are potentially worse (in the short-term) than the underlying condition itself. I can't miss work or classes because of an upset stomach or dizziness or sleepiness.

Also, I suspect that the article left out a pertinent detail. It says that the most common prescriptions left unfilled are ones for "pain medication," but I would bet the farm that those are mostly prescriptions for Naproxen and Motrin--both things that everyone knows you can get OTC far cheaper. Doctors give that stuff out like candy, because they're paranoid about opiates, and I've never met anyone who actually gets them filled.

Of course cost is an issue. When compainies as large as GE stick it to their salaried emloyees and retirees by all but dropping medical coverage by replacing co-pays with very high deductables, money will be an issue. GE hopes this will save them money, but people not being able to pay for medication will simply lead to major illness and costly hospital stays.

You tell 'em StevenB.  Give these liberal basterds what for.  Ever since the "socialists" got in office there's been nothing but problems.  When Bush was in office, you knew who was running things and he could get stuff done.  Now all we hear about is how much Europe and other countries "love Obama".  Well I'm sick of it!  I've never had "cost" problems getting any of my prescriptions filled... and I bet you and other good conservatives like Rush Limbaugh don't have problems getting their prescriptions filled either.  We need to get the democrat party out of office, and get Sarah Palin and other smart, qualified leaders elected.  All we get from these liberals is whining and complaining about "Healthcare" and The Environment" and "Civil Rights".  You give em hell StevenB.  To me, you perfectly represent our conservative values.

For me, it has all to do with cost of the prescriptions. My health insurance has very high co-pays for Rx's so I have to pay cash for almost everything I get filled. My 2 children were very sick with bronchitis right before Christmas. When I went to the pharmacy to get their Rx's filled it was over $100 for generics! Unfortunately, I didn't have the $100 to pay so I had to call the Dr. and ask to call in something else into a Walmart pharmacy. It was then still $50, which we had to "rob Peter to pay Paul," because of additional co-pays at the doctors office as well. It is devastating when your babies are sick and are considered a "middle class" family and can't even afford to get needed prescriptions for your children. It is just awful what has become of this country with all the rising cost and the burden that is being placed on our families.

Doctors love to write prescriptions. Perhaps some are just not really needed. Sometimes my doc will write a script just in case it is needed, such as for minor pain, and I may not end up getting it filled. Or when I am tight on money I won't get my allergy medicine filled.

I can attest to it being the cost and my wife and I often have to decide which scripts we can afford to fill and which ones we can't. She suffers from severe mental illness and I have heart problems and and diabetic but we will get lucky and the doctor will have samples so we can get our medication.

I don't want the socialization of the healthcare system like they are talking about doing but scripts are getting out of hand on the prices while drug companies and politicians got rich.

My wife takes 7 different medications and I am on 5 and with me not having insurance I pay $400 a month for my scripts and she has insurance but co-pays are from $10-$40 per script so we don't always get all our medication.

I would be willing to suck it up and just deal with it if the government would stop throwing our money away but if they can send 100 million to help another country they can help americans.

It's alway's about the money! Lobbyist just spent twenty three million dollars to influence legislators to pass a bill to make sure you and I cannot get our medication from Canada or Europe. They will tell you they are doing this for your protection. They are protecting the pharmacetical bottom line. All I can say is we have been had big time by Congress, Doctor's and the Pharmacetical companies. Ethical business, I don't think so.

I don't think it's completely about cost, although I do recognize that it's a factor. I also think a large factor is also about trust. The article mentions things like diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc. We all see these advertisements for medicine everywhere. They also come with a long list of disclaimers of what can happen to you when you do take the medicine which is obviously some sort of protection against a lawsuit. But I for one am reluctant to take a cholesterol medicine where I feel I need a law degree to understand the side effects of it.

It's all fine and well to say "talk with your doctor" but we live in the age of assembly line medicine. How many patients can you get in and out the door? After about 5 times of playing phone tag with a doctor and doing nothing more than leaving messages on some nurses voice mail, talking with a doctor isn't as easy as it sounds. And don't give a line of BS about "get a different doctor" because most of them are stuck in this rut at this point. They have to be to be profitable.

I think the biggest issue of why people aren't using their prescriptions is people aren't being cared for. Medicine is moving too fast, and people don't understand why they are taking it. If you don't understand the value of taking the medicine, there is no way people are going to accept the legal disclaimers of taking the medicine in the first place.

The all powerful pharmaceutical industry has bought every politician in Washington. The industry quickly shut down Americans who were buying Canadian pharmaceuticals so they would be forced to buy American drugs and the pharmcy companies coulduse price gouging. No wonder prescriptions are not filled when Americans are forced by a corrupt government to buy American at ten or twenty times the cost of the prescription drug. America the land where every politician is for sale to the highest bidder.

Personally, I have never had a cost issue because of great employee group coverage. I talk to my doctor about any prescription he gives me which had previously caused unwanted side effects. That's not to say I do not still research the medication. However, the problem I do have quite often is that the physician doesn't know what is causing my symptoms, and he gives me some vague diagnosis with a prescription that won't do anything but delay a proper diagnosis and cause more problems down the road. So, many times, I would much rather skip the medication and find out the cause of my symptoms. I don't need an antidepressant because I have joint pain! I am not depressed! Nor do I want to take pain medication that makes me a completely different person because physicians want to shut me up. I just want a reason and then I can decide how to handle it. I think the problem with a lot of doctors isn't that drug companies have them in their back pocket. I think the problem is that they are too lazy to use their brain and find the proper diagnosis or drug, so they blurt out whatever drug or diagnosis they see most common or that was recently given to them by drug reps. Seriously, not everything is a conspiracy or has government to blame.