A pharmacist by trade, Sen. Billy Beasley, D-Clayton, told a panel gathered in a House committee room of a customer he had that wasn’t taking his medication correctly, despite clear labels.
“Unfortunately, he couldn’t read or write,” Beasley said at a committee meeting Tuesday. “When I discovered that, he said, ‘We’re going to have to fix you up a medicine tray.’ He had no health issues, but he did better.”
Encouraging more consistent use of medication was the focus of the panel, brought together under Prescriptions for a Healthy America and the Script Your Future Campaign, which are trying to encourage better medication adherence.
According to Prescriptions for Healthy America, 125,000 Americans die each year because they fail to take their medication or fail to take it properly. The group estimates that $290 billion a year is spent on health care each year due to complications arising from individuals not taking medication correctly.
Source: Montgomery Advertiser