Pill-Cutting and Medical Care Saving Attempts

Daily Kos has a story on people trying to save money by extending the life of their medications.  Turns out not to be a good idea.  Jed L links to a recent MSNBC story and  writes,

As far back as October, the Kaiser Health Foundation found that almost half the people in the country had somebody in their family who was skimping on medical care to save money:

Nearly half (47%) of the public reports someone in their family skipping pills, postponing  or cutting back on medical care they said they needed in the past year due to the cost of care.  For example, just over one-third say they or a family member put off or postponed needed care and three in ten say they skipped a recommended test or treatment – increases of seven percentage points from last April’s tracking poll which asks the same question.

. . .  It's a clear demonstration of the downside of allowing drug manufacturers to charge ever-higher sums for medicine, and it's just another reason why the Obama team is correct to make health care an important component of their stimulus plan.