treatment

Prescription Quandaries

TO THE EDITOR:

Re “A Prescription for Confusion: When to Take All Those Pills” (The New Old Age, Dec. 22):

I would like to thank Paula Span for pointing out that some older people are not following their doctors’ recommendations because they cannot afford to take their medications as often as they are prescribed. Or, even more problematic, they never fill their prescriptions because they are not covered under their plan and they would have to pay out-of-pocket for them.

Unfortunately, this “unhealthy” behavior is not limited to older people.

Research has shown that, due to cost, one in four people do not take their medications as prescribed. Also, more Americans than ever are taking prescriptions, and almost 60 percent of them rely on drugs associated with obesity, blood pressure and cholesterol regulation. These facts, combined with the rising cost of prescriptions, are truly a cause for concern.

Ceci West

Destin, Fla.

climate change

A Fraught Future

TO THE EDITOR:

Re “A Rush of Dilemmas” (Dec. 22):

This series of dilemmas should bring home to all of us the complex dangers facing us with climate change.

The solutions offered here are a great start, but unless all political parties recognize that climate change is happening and that the negative effects will affect all of us, our ability to manage harmful consequences will be limited.