Although most of us would be excited about health insurance if it covered retail therapy but when it comes to health care needs, we should be shopping for the best deals like we do for shoes.
For some, prescriptions are a daily health need, but the costs can add up fast. There are several ways to save on prescription costs.
- Ask your doctor if you can take the generic version of a brand name drug.
- Ask your doctor if there is a lower cost alternative that will work for treatment on your health carrier’s formulary. (Prescription Formularies from carriers can be hundreds of pages so be ready with a searchable PDF version when sitting with the doctor.)
- GoodRx.com is a great search tool that you can use to find the cash price of your prescriptions at local pharmacies.
- Check out the free prescription list from Publix. They have a variety of prescriptions you can pick up for no charge. Oh, and don’t forget that gallon of milk while you are there!
- $4 and $10 prescription lists can be found at Walmart and Sam’s Club. (You don’t have to have a Sam’s Club membership to use their pharmacy)
- Discount membership programs with Walgreen’s have become popular as well.
- For high price specialty prescriptions (and you are not on Medicare), call the manufacturer of the medication. Several of them have programs to help.
You may be asking “how do I know if my insurance will be less or the pharmacy will be less?” The secret…JUST ASK!!! I recently had two prescriptions to fill for my son. I asked the pharmacist to give me the price if it was filed with my insurance and the price if I was going to pay cash. Turns out that one was less expensive through the insurance and one was less expensive paying the pharmacy’s cash price. Saved me about $20, which bought my sick child a kid’s meal to make him feel better.