8 Ways to Save Money on Your Prescriptions

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Chances are, you and your family members take one or more prescription drugs every day. Like many Americans, you depend on your health insurance coverage for most of these medications. But, as you well know, your prescription drug plan, no matter what insurance company you are with, is far from perfect.

Some medications are covered and some are not. Some medications are in a higher tier and cost a great deal more than lower tier drugs. Maybe the insurance company wants you to try and take a medication (or two) your doctor didn’t prescribe before you can take the one he actually did prescribe. Then there’s the dreaded “exception” fiasco where you have to convince the insurance company to make an exception for a specific medication that they feel you don’t need… even though your doctor prescribed it.

Or, hey… maybe you don’t even have any kind of prescription drug coverage and you are forced to pay out of pocket and full price for all your prescriptions.

No matter if you do or don’t have prescription drug coverage, I have good news for you. There are alternatives.

I went on a mission in 2017 to find lower prices for my family’s prescriptions. Tired of dealing with escalating prices, ever-changing formularies and countless back and forth phone calls to my doctors and the insurance company, I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands. What I found was nothing short of amazing.

I found that there are some really extraordinary prescription discounts out there if you look for them, starting with Prescription Drug Discount Cards. There’s a ton of these discount cards out there and most, unfortunately, are worthless. But, a few, are really great at saving you money.

Good Rx, WellRx, and RxCut are very well known programs and can offer significant savings for you and your family. Your best bet is to go to each site, type in your medications and compare prices at pharmacies near you. Costs will differ by the medication and by pharmacy, so with a little comparison shopping on each site, you’ll figure out the best price for each of your medications. All you need to do to join each card program is visit the website and print out a card. Then take the card to your pharmacy with your prescription and start saving. I’ve used all three of these programs and each one worked very well.

Another discount program I found is called Blink Health. Blink Health works a little different than the discount cards in that you pay for your medications on the website and not at the pharmacy. The discount is applied online and the pharmacy receives the order from Blink. I’ve used them a few times and the process works to perfection. Again, you have to type in your medication and compare it to the discount cards and your insurance coverage to determine your best price.

As a side note, for all of these programs, be sure you type in your exact medication including the dosage and the number of times you take it per day. It will make a difference in the price.

There is another website called NeedyMeds where you can find prescription drug discount information including drug manufacturer discounts direct from the drug manufacturer. Manufacturer discounts can also be found simply by searching for a specific medication, finding the drug manufacturer and seeing if they offer a discount for the brand name of that particular drug.

Another opportunity to save on your prescription costs is through organizations like AAA and AARP who have their own drug discount programs. Many pharmacies also have discount programs on generic drugs that offer low cost alternatives to your insurance-based prescription prices.

The research I did took a little time as did the medication comparisons. But, let me tell you, it saved me a bunch of money on our prescriptions. My advice to you is, take the time, compare prices on each of your medications and you’ll find out, as I did, that the cost savings was well worth the time and effort.