prescription drugs

A pharmacy in Kansas billed Medicare for more than 1,000 prescriptions each for two patients in a single year, part of a pattern of questionable billings at 2,600 drugstores nationwide uncovered by federal investigators in a report Thursday.

A quarter-century after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first prescription drugs based on the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, additional medicines derived from or inspired by the cannabis plant itself could soon be making their way to pharmacy shelves, according to drug companies, small biotech firms and university scientists.

Birth control drugs that were heavily promoted as having fewer side effects are now under scrutiny from the FDA in the wake of new research suggesting that they are more likely to cause blood clots than older drugs.

Cold and flu season is upon us. Americans spend $400 million on prescription drugs to relieve the symptoms, according to one study, and some of them spend too much. DailyFinance's Laura Rowley looks at what not to do when filling a prescription.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among American women: 12% will develop it at some point in their lives, and at that point, the health battle begins. But those women often must fight one a second front as well, dealing with the multiple threats cancer poses to their financial well-being.

With the unemployment rate at almost 10% and companies cutting back on benefits, millions of people are responsible for securing their own health insurance. Picking the right plan for you can be tricky, so DailyFinance asked consumer health experts for tips on how to maximize benefits while minimizing costs.

In this economy, people aren't just cutting out luxuries, nearly half of Americans are skimping on necessities like medication and doctor visits -- drastic actions that could be dangerous to their health.

They call it the Great "Recession," but there's no question that these are depressing times. And doctors are writing scripts for antidepressants at an alarming rate -- especially given that many of these doctors aren't psychiatrists. What are the effects on patients who haven't been properly screened?

Simply the fact of no more paychecks can make retirement hard enough, but rising health care costs can really compound the difficulty of what should be your golden years. Fortunately there's help, in the form of Medicare -- in particular, Medicare Part D for prescription drugs. Here's what you need to know about this critical benefit, which can save you thousands of dollars a year.

CVS Caremark is best known for its drugstore busines. But it's also finding its way into the business of managing prescription-drug insurance claims. After taking some heat in the last few quarters, it is starting to see revenue from some big contracts in this segment.