Focus on Employees
Choose Well: Choose Generics
Welcome to the King County’s web site on Prescription Drugs and Generics.Here you’ll find the latest news, information and some nifty online tools to help you better understand prescription drugs and the role generics play in delivering high quality care, while saving money for you and your family.
Generics play in important role in enhancing the quality of health care in King County. These FDA approved, well-tested and cost effective prescriptions – which must always be approved by your doctor -- help reduce spending on prescription drug benefits when they are substituted for brand name drugs.
The savings you enjoy by choosing generics today helps keep a lid on the cost of health benefits for all employees.
Frequently Asked Questions
Generic medications are widely accepted by doctors and pharmacists. Already, more than 40% of all medications dispensed each year are generic drugs. Over the next few years, many more brand-name drugs will become available as generics for common medical conditions. Here are a few frequently asked questions regarding generic drugs.
Medication Check-up™ Medication errors hurt thousands of Americans each year. That’s why the Institute of Medicine recommends that patients taking multiple drugs review their prescriptions with a health professional. Medication Check-up™ offers KingCare℠ members specially trained pharmacists who work with you and your doctor to make sure what you’re taking is safe and the best fit for your continued good health. Visit the Benefits Web site for more information.
Resources
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has brochures with information on generics that you can print out: Facts About Generic Drugs (print and audio selections available)What’s the generic name for that brand-named drug? With the “Orange Book” you search by the name of a drug to find out if a generic form of that drug has been approved by the FDA. (Source: FDA)
Tip: “Proprietary Name” means brand name. You can also search by generic names and ingredients.
Access to your King County prescription drug plan
For KingCare℠ members (ESI)
For GroupHealth members (Group Health)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Cholesterol drug Vytorin does 'zilch' to help heart disease
Top doctors urge return to standard treatments - CHICAGO -- Leading doctors urged a return to older, tried-and-true treatments for high cholesterol after hearing full results Sunday of a failed trial of Vytorin.
New York Times: Study Reveals Doubt on Drug for Cholesterol
A clinical trial of a widely used cholesterol drug has raised questions both about the medicine’s effectiveness and about the behavior of the pharmaceutical companies that conducted the study, cardiologists said . . . Read more.
Everett Herald: Prescriptions: Pricier isn’t necessarily better (Opinion)
Listen enough times to Dr. Robert Jarvik, inventor of the famous Jarvik Artificial Heart, tell you to consider Lipitor for your high cholesterol, and the message starts to sink in. And why shouldn't it? Jarvik's image, even in a TV commercial for the popular drug, carries a lot of credibility. Read more.
TIME: Medication errors hurt millions each year
Doctors' sloppy handwriting kills more than 7,000 people annually. It's a shocking statistic, and, according to a July 2006 report from the National Academies of Science's Institute of Medicine (IOM), preventable medication mistakes also injure more than 1.5 million Americans annually. Read more.
Chicago Tribune: Insurers: The price is right for generics
When Ray Metz went to see his doctor for his high blood pressure earlier this year, he was not surprised to get a free drug sample. Only it wasn't a well-known brand. Instead it was a generic drug by the name of Lisinopril, a copy of the more expensive and better-known Zestril. Read more.
For KingCare℠ members (ESI)
For GroupHealth members (Group Health)
Newsroom
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Cholesterol drug Vytorin does 'zilch' to help heart disease
Top doctors urge return to standard treatments - CHICAGO -- Leading doctors urged a return to older, tried-and-true treatments for high cholesterol after hearing full results Sunday of a failed trial of Vytorin.
New York Times: Study Reveals Doubt on Drug for Cholesterol
A clinical trial of a widely used cholesterol drug has raised questions both about the medicine’s effectiveness and about the behavior of the pharmaceutical companies that conducted the study, cardiologists said . . . Read more.
Everett Herald: Prescriptions: Pricier isn’t necessarily better (Opinion)
Listen enough times to Dr. Robert Jarvik, inventor of the famous Jarvik Artificial Heart, tell you to consider Lipitor for your high cholesterol, and the message starts to sink in. And why shouldn't it? Jarvik's image, even in a TV commercial for the popular drug, carries a lot of credibility. Read more.
TIME: Medication errors hurt millions each year
Doctors' sloppy handwriting kills more than 7,000 people annually. It's a shocking statistic, and, according to a July 2006 report from the National Academies of Science's Institute of Medicine (IOM), preventable medication mistakes also injure more than 1.5 million Americans annually. Read more.
Chicago Tribune: Insurers: The price is right for generics
When Ray Metz went to see his doctor for his high blood pressure earlier this year, he was not surprised to get a free drug sample. Only it wasn't a well-known brand. Instead it was a generic drug by the name of Lisinopril, a copy of the more expensive and better-known Zestril. Read more.