The Obama administration unveiled the 2011 Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Plan last year to combat prescription drug abuse. The four-pronged program expands upon the National Drug Control Strategy in an attempt to reduce prescription drug abuse:
• Education
A crucial first step in tackling the problem of prescription drug abuse is to educate parents, youth, and patients about the dangers of abusing prescription drugs, while requiring prescribers to receive education on the appropriate and safe use, and proper storage and disposal of prescription drugs.
• Monitoring
Implement prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) in every state to reduce “doctor shopping” and diversion, and enhance PDMPs to make sure they can share data across states and are used by healthcare providers.
• Proper Medication Disposal
Develop convenient and environmentally responsible prescription drug disposal programs to help decrease the supply of unused prescription drugs in the home.
• Enforcement
Provide law enforcement with the tools necessary to eliminate improper prescribing practices and stop pill mills.
• One of the main proposals of Barack Obama with regards to prescription drugs is to grant permission to the citizens of America to buy safe prescription drugs from other developed countries if the cost is comparatively less. This is in cognizance of the fact that the prices of prescription drugs in America are not only higher but are also constantly on the rise.
• Obama has also proposed lifting of the ban which prevents the Federal Government from negotiating with the pharmaceutical companies with the intention of lowering the prices on the prescription drugs.
• Since prescription drugs are mostly used by the elderly segment of the population under the Medicare plan, Obama has proposed that it should be mandatory on part of all insurance providers providing Medicare to keep their seekers informed about the names of prescription drugs which they use and the payment which they make every year.
• Obama has also forwarded the proposal to close the infamous 'doughnut hole' which has been mentioned in the Medicare part D prescription drug program. This is because the 'doughnut hole' causes the people to incur medical expenditure to the tune of thousands of dollars as it represents a gap in coverage between a lower and a higher amount.
• Through his new proposals, Obama intends to prevent pharmaceutical companies from blocking the introduction of safe and economical generic drugs into the market.
• The new proposals with regards to Medicare prescription drug programs are meant to enable the senior citizens to choose a healthcare plan which would not only help to maintain their good health but would also cost relatively less thus resulting in savings.
