Jun

27

Statin Pill Splitting

Posted by cameron

June 27, 2007 |

I was curious when I read about a pill splitting scheme being promoted at the University of Michigan. It seems that the pricing structure of statin drugs is not linear. I.e. twice the dosage does not cost twice the price. I have to assume this price structure is in place to make certain that drug companies make their money even for the smaller dose. So the pill splitting scheme goes like this:

Say that you buy a months supply of the lowest dose for $60 and a months supply of tablets that have twice the dosage for say $100. Cut the higher dose pills in half using a special pill splitter tool and you now have two months supply averaging $50 per month. Each half of a pill is your usual dose and you save $10 per month. You also save on the co-pay because you only buy prescriptions half as often as before.

The University has been using this scheme for employees and has saved a lot of money. It is not clear how they get the prescriptions for higher dosage pills. You can read about it here at U of M.


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