by 
The Curious Bag
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Choosing generic medication over name brand can save both the consumer and the insurance company a lot of money. But for many, the difference between generic and name brand drugs is unknown.
Identification
Generic medicines contain the same active ingredients as do their name brand counterparts, as per regulated by the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), a department of the FDA.
Features
The CDER makes sure that as new generic drugs enter the market--they are tested and proven to be of same quality as its brand name equivalent.
Effects
Generic drugs cost less for drug companies to make because they do not have to purchase patent protection to sell them. In turn, they cost less for the consumer.
Benefits
To compete with rising healthcare costs, companies like Target and Walmart offer low price generic prescription drug programs to customers. With these programs, hundreds of prescriptions are available to people without health insurance for under $4 dollars each (as of 2010).
Warning
Because the FDA does not test generic nor name brand drugs themselves, they don't consider any drug to be perfectly safe. They instead evaluate data based on the drug manufacturer's own studies of people who have used the drug.
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