Saving on Prescription Medication

We have health insurance through my employer.  We do not, however, have a copay for prescription medications.  This is somewhat new for us, and caused a fair amount of sticker-shock when it first happened.  I want to share a few things you might try if you have prescription medications you need to pay for out-of-pocket.

One thing I learned was that calling around can make a big, big difference in the price of a medication.  I called several pharmacies to find the best price available.  I also learned that Costco pharmacies are availabe to everyone, regardless of membership status.  If there is a Costco near you, give them a call, for pricing.  Even if you don't have membership there, you can still get prescriptions filled at the Costco pharmacy, and their prices were really competetive.

If a generic option is available, that makes a big difference too.  If you are able to take a generic instead of the formulary, that cuts price significantly.  The other consideration to ask about is capsules vs. tablets for medicines in pill form.  I priced one medication where there was a price difference of $80 on a 90-day supply if it was in tablet form instead of capsule form.  My prescription was written for capsules, so I called and requested that change.

Finally, though, what really saved me a lot of the cost of my prescriptions was going through Good RX.  Good RX is a website that compares prices and offers you coupons to help you save on the medicines you have prescriptions for.  My cost went down significantly when I went to the site and entered my prescriptions and printed coupons.  As an example, I had a 90 day supply of a medication that, after calling around, my lowest price was $98.00.  (ouch!)  When I entered the information into Good RX, It came up as $38 at a local pharmacy (who had quoted me the $110.00 before).  I called and verified that they did indeed take Good RX coupons, so I had my prescription filled there.  In fact, when I was there, one of the technicians also searched for additional coupons & discounts and brought the price down to $25.00 for a 90-day supply.

I am not certain that it will work for everyone in every situation, but I had considerable savings using Good RX.  It is free to use, there is no 'membership' of any sort, and so for me, it was definitely worth a try.  I am sharing this with you in hopes it will help you too.  I am not in any way affiliated with Good RX - I get no benefit from telling you about them, but I hope it is helpful for you!