APRIL 8, 2009

Is Netflix Vital To Your Survival?

I’ve often heard that in tough economic times we shed from our lives those material goods and luxuries that we really don’t need to survive after all.

My colleague and Lexulous player extraordinaire, Gayle Weiswasser, recently wrote a post about industries that are faring well, if not better than ever, during the recession.  Apparently, when we cut back on some non-essentials, we spend more on others.

So, where are we redirecting our money?  It turns out we’re using it to access companionship websites like eHarmony, which, of course, is expected and understandable. We’re also buying more candy from candy stores and renting more movies from Netflix than we have in the past.  And how could I leave out the infamous Snuggie blanket, with sales recently topping $60 million?  These “comfort items,” which also happen to go very well together, quickly and effectively enable us to take a necessary and great escape from the daily grind.  We are, as New York Times columnist Rob Walker put it, becoming “a nation of Linuses.”

Indeed, our behavior amidst the tough economic climate appears sound and reasonable – that is, until you look at prescription drugs.  According to a recent Wall Street Journal article,  data from health-information company Wolters Kluwer Health reveals that the current recession is having an unusually negative impact on prescription-drug sales.

For example, due to cost, U.S. patients failed to fill 6.8% of the brand-name prescriptions their doctors requested in the 2008 fourth quarter, a 22% increase from the first quarter of 2007.  Patients also abandoned prescriptions for generic drugs at a higher rate, failing to fill 4.1% of generic prescriptions.  For all of you brand-name drug dissenters, that means you can’t blame this particular sales slowdown on “overpriced” prescription drugs, as even the cheaper generics are being left on the shelves!

Earlier data from the Department of Health and Human Services shows that at least half of all Americans regularly take at least one prescription drug, with one in six taking three or more medications.  Is it not incredibly revealing that, as a result of the current recession, we’ve decided we don’t “need” as many prescription drugs as we thought we did? Or, at the very least, that we are willing to endure mild physical or mental “pain” in exchange for a goofy blanket with sleeves, a bag of Sour Patch Kids, and a viewing of the new Slumdog Millionaire DVD?

What made us think we needed so many prescription drugs in the first place?  And will the alternative, healing power of entertainment and other “comfort items” keep us from returning to prescription drugs in the future?