Thursday, December 13, 2012

How to Avoid Phony Online Pharmacies

Millions of Americans still lack affordable drug coverage.  This includes a large number of retirees on Medicare who continue to have high out-of-pocket expenses for prescription drugs, since the drug "doughnut hole" has not been completely closed, yet.  As a result, every year thousands of consumers seek out cheap online pharmacies as a way to save money on their necessary drugs. 

Unfortunately, according to the Food and Drug Administration, 97 percent of the online pharmacies they recently investigated did not follow U.S. pharmacy laws.  This lack of compliance with American laws can put the lives of innocent patients at great risk.  In response, the government has issued several warnings to help potential customers of online pharmacies identify the difference between those that are safe and those that are not.

How to Spot a Fake Online Pharmacy

You should be concerned about a pharmacy that exhibits these risky signs:

They will allow you to buy drugs without a physician’s prescription;
They offer unusually low prices;
They send out excessive amounts of spam email;
They are located in another country;
They are not licensed in the U.S.

How to Spot a Legitimate Online Pharmacy

Fortunately, there are online pharmacies that follow the rules and sell prescription drugs to American consumers in a legal and legitimate manner.  Here is how to tell if you are dealing with one of these legal pharmacies:

They always require a physician’s prescription in order to purchase prescription drugs;
They can provide customers with an actual physical address and phone number in the United States;
They offer good customer service, including the ability to speak with a real pharmacist over the phone;
They are used by your insurance carrier;
They have a license from your state board of pharmacy.

You can check to see if they have a license at:


Additional Warnings about Using Online Pharmacies

In addition, customers of online pharmacies may want to take the following precautions:

When you receive your prescription, look up the drug on the computer.  Make sure the pills look the way they are supposed to.

Be sure that you have a safe delivery location for your drugs.  A box left on your front doorstep that has a pharmaceutical company label can easily be stolen.

If you take these precautions, you may discover that you can still purchase cheap prescription drugs from online pharmacies without putting your health and your life at risk.

If you are interested in learning more about health issues that could affect you, financial planning, where to retire, and more, use the tabs or pull down menu at the top of the page to find links to hundreds of additional articles.

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Photo of prescription medicine courtey of www.photoxpress.com

More information about your medications can be found at the Food and Drug Administration website at  http://www.fda.gov

2 comments:

  1. Great information. Like in every other aspect of life, there are always dishonest companies trying to take advantage of Boomers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I hate to alarm people all the time, but it seems as if we need to be constantly vigilant against criminals, especially when we are dealing with people an companies online.

    ReplyDelete

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