Reader Tip: Save Money on Getting Prescriptions Filled
If you regularly fill prescriptions and are wondering what store offers the best price to get it filled, check out this email and helpful tip I received from reader, Sarah….
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I just found out about a site called GoodRx.com that allows you to type in your script and find the cheapest pharmacy to buy it at. I wish I had known about this sooner because I have had to buy so many different ones for our family lately! Now I will always check online before I have them call it in![/h2s_box]
To compare pharmacy prices nearest you, just head over here, enter the prescription drug name that you or your family needs and your location, and then click “Find the Lowest Price”. You will then be directed to a page that will inform you on where you can purchase this specific drug at the cheapest price nearest you! You’ll also be able to find pharmacy coupons, manufacturer discounts, generics, comparable drug choices, and savings tips! Awesome!
You can also download the GoodRx App on your iPhone or Android smartphone to get prices and coupons while you’re on-the-go. Plus, get a GoodRx discount card for FREE that can be used for discounts of up to 80% on most prescription drugs at most U.S. pharmacies. You can use it for every member of your family (even pets!) and there are no quantity limits or hidden fees!
Do you have any other tips related to saving on prescription drugs? If so, please share in the comments below!
(Thanks, Sarah!)
Is the price before or after applying insurance coverage?
You can’t use GoodRx with insurance.
To use with insurance, you’ll need a savings card from the prescription’s manufacturer, sometimes available on their own website or through the doctor’s office..most card say ‘pay no more than $xx’
This is awesome! Thanks so much for sharing. Fortunately I don’t need it, but it’s good to have handy for when I do someday.
Thanks! My husband takes Advair and it is over $400 per month but I see that I can save a little by switching to another pharmacy. Unfortunately, our insurance is being cancelled May 1st thanks to the “affordable” healthcare act.
Ours, for our family of 3, is going up about $200/month through my husband’s publicly traded, nearly nationwide corporation. I work for a tiny company (less than 20 employees) and mine has always been double the cost of his. We’re thinking of dropping insurance for a year until things settle down and the cost levels out. $600/month is a pretty big hit when we only visit the doctor a couple times/year.
Yep – we pay for our own because it would cost us $1,000 per month through my husband’s work (that’s with them paying half). We were happy paying $500 per month with a $2,500 deductible for a family of 5 since we have been healthy until recently. My husband has said too that we should go without insurance for a while and see how it goes. His Dr. said that he will give us samples when he can. I’m not sure who this whole thing is affordable for…..not us!
The name affordable care act is laughable! Our individual coverage will go for $250/month to $650/month for a family of 4. The deductible is a bit lower, but not much, and I lose all copay’s which is all we usually need anyway. We’ll probably go without and just pay the penalty, too. It’s not much the 1st year. I’m 32 and have been insured my entire adult life UNTIL Obamacare. Great work!
Going without insurance is like playing Russian Roulette with your finances. Even at a young age, you can end up sick or hurt. It is a very bad idea.
Ugh, the changes going on at the hospital (as a result of this wonderful piece of legislation) where I recently had a baby make this Affordable deal… not only unaffordable, but worse quality. They are having to cut corners more (which means less nurses for more people).
Your insurance is being cancelled because it did not meet the federal MINIMUM of what it needs to cover. A lot of insurance companies just backed out because of Obamacare because they did not want to change their policies as it would be less profitable for them.
I qualified for Obamacare and had plenty of options to lower my normal monthly charge. I went for one of the more premium options and am still saving $80 a month from what my husbands work offered. Before that job, we had been uninsured for about 5 years. Nothing happened to ruin our credit but we were also fairly young, healthy adults.
So it is up to you but it is a gamble. Health costs are ridiculously expensive and can get you in a heap of financial trouble. I work at a law firm and see what many auto accidents cost people without insurance, and it works out way better for you in the end if you have insurance. Although, there are facilities few and far between willing to work with you if you can prove how little money you make and will put they’re costs on a percentage of that. So… the choice is yours.
Insurance coverage varies so I would think this would be the “cash upfront” price?
I play the transferring game. There are several times that I get paid to pick up my low cost prescriptions. Kmart often has transfer coupons on the coupon inserts, and CVS accepts competitors coupons, so I go back and forth between the two, getting a $25 gift card each time. Sometimes this ends up being cheaper for me than using the through the mail, 90 day service.
I did this to save money on the swing set I wanted to buy at Kmart last year. 🙂 Giant Eagle is offering $1 off per gallon of gas at their gas station for every transferred rx this month. If you bill through insurance, your rx will be the same price everywhere. Also check to see if any of your drugs are on anyone’s $4/30 day $10/90 generic list, because in that case, paying cash can be cheaper than billing through insurance. (My generic copay for a 30 day supply is $10, but I can get a 90 day supply for $10 at stores that have my medication on their list!) A lot of chains will price match, too, if you ask!!!
Actually with a number of insurances you pay for a percentage so it still pays to check.
It says on the picture posted here, cash price and the price with coupon. I don’t think it has to do w insurance according to the picture
Some pharmacies have free prescriptions also. For example, Meijer has free prenatal vitamins. All you need is a prescription. My doctor’s office was more than happy to call it in for me.
How do you find out which are free? 🙂
Agreed. Giant does free flouride drops for infants/toddlers. All you need is a prescription. You can even get dye-free flouride drops for free if you ask!
There is a list for my local pharmacies vg’s and meijer free prescriptions on a lot of things, antibiotics, etc. or call and ask what’s covered I think target is doing it now too.
Why would you give infants flouride?
It protects against cavities if you’re not giving tap water or if you live in a place that doesn’t have it in the water.
Publix has free (commonly-prescribed) antibiotics. I think it’s a 14-day supply. Harris Teeter also offers some antibiotics free.
I used Meijer’s free prenatal vitamins last yr when I was pregnant. I just asked for the lower Iron prenatal vitamins and I think they were called Vol Plus or something? Anyhow…it was nice to get these for free!
If you have a Wegman’s nearby they have an awesome $4.00 Generic prescription program, no insurance needed.
https://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?identifier=CATEGORY_5734&storeId=10052&catalogId=10002&langId=-1
This is sooooo helpful! Thanks!
I have found that Costco offers the lowest prescription prices and you do NOT need a Costco membership to use the Pharmacy (or the Tire Center). You can call Costco or use their website to check prices.
If you want to check the price of your prescription after insurance you can check your insurance carrier’s website for pricing.
Rita, was just thinking this. Also, the prescription for my husband at Costco isn’t listed on the goodrx.com site. They do have a “membership warehouse” price on goodrx, but it was still about $80 more than I know I can get it for at Costco.
Last month I filled a prescription at Costco and paid $25. One month later I decided to try prices at my local grocery store (Vons) and it was only $14 for the exact same thing. Please know that Costco is not always cheaper. I used to think that, too!
You cannot use the GoodRx discount and your insurance at the same time; you can only use one or the other. This saves you money because many insurance Rx co-pays are $10, for example, but if you used the GoodRx discount instead, you may only pay $4. Every little bit helps! You can search on their site or the app to see if it would be cheaper to use the GoodRx discount.
I’ve used this for buying birth control without insurance and it was WAY cheaper!!! Great site.
My husband takes7 prescriptions regularly. I had them split up between 2 pharmacies. My insurance just changed and the prescription coverage is through CVS. Since we don’t have a CVS locally, we have to order through the mail and 3 months at a time. Anyways this got me searching and at the same time Albertsons (or Save-on pharmacy) started a program that has 100’s of prescriptions for $3.99. I was in a similar program at Fred Meyer but only a few were covered. I found all of my husbands on the list!! Not only do I get to avoid the hassle of ordering through the mail, but I’m saving TONS of money!!
Our insurance just change also & we were told we could only use CVS as well. We called and asked the new insurance company and actually found out that the pharmacy we’ve been using is within the network. It might be worth a call to yours. You might get lucky too!
They also have a pet option (https://www.goodrx.com/pets) that offers tremendous savings. My dog got very sick last summer and needed lots of life-saving medications. At one point she was on 6 different prescriptions, which are so pricey at vets office. Someone told me about this and I had them filled at my local pharmacy. One of the medicines would have been $100+ out of pocket but was less than $20 using this. My local Rite-Aid also gave me a prescription savings card that I could use for her. I was shocked since she’s a dog but that helped a lot too.
Meijer often has coupons for $20 towards groceries when you fill a new prescription or $10 when you refill. This helps our grocery bill out a lot.
I have them run the price with my insurance and then with GoodRx. My vitamin D was cheaper with my insurance. However generic Adderall was $154 with my insurance and with Goodrx I got it at CVS for $79 and at Kroger it was $145, so it is important to check prices first since you are talking about more then a couple dollars difference even using Goodrx.
During the annual insurance meeting at work a few years ago, the insurance rep said he had heard of people asking the doc to write a prescription for larger pills. They then use a pill cutter. Say you need to take 100 mg daily but they offer 100 and 200 mg pills, you can cut your expense in half by using a pill splitter. Since then I have been doing this with Allegra, half a pill works for my allergies.
Anna, please be aware that you cannot do this with ALL medications. Some prescriptions are formulated for drug release over time and cutting these types of tablets can harmful! Check with your doctors to pharmacist first to see if cutting the tablets is OK
In order to be able to get the higher dose so that you can split the pills, your dr. would have to write the prescription for the higher dose, so would should be aware of any issue with splitting pills that would cause any issues with timed release tablets.
My dr. was happy to write my script for higher dose so that I could save on a higher priced drug.
Publix offers some prescription medication and antibiotics for free. Check their websie for details.
Kroger also does some free antibiotics (of course I’m never prescribed the free ones, lol).
I just checked on a Rx we picked up yesterday, and the same pharmacy’s “with coupon” price that GoodRx listed, was $7 higher than the total the receipt showed that I paid combined with what insurance would pay. I don’t know if this is because insurance companies get an additional unlisted discount, or if GoodRx price was a little off. So either way I would say the prices listed definitely do not involve insurance.
I have to get meds for 2 of my dogs. I have found that Costco has meds pretty much cheaper than anywhere else.
Anyhow, I love my Target pharmacy but they charge over $70 a month for one of my dog’s meds. Costco is $19 a month. Target price matches costco and so i only pay $19 a month, plus i get my pharmacy rewards and i dont have to drive another 20 minutes further to get to Costco. The only meds i have found that Target will not price match is the free antibiotics at Publix.
I’m a pharmacist and I’m always amazed how doctors give prescriptions that are quite expensive to patients and the patients feel that they have no choice but to pay the high price for them. I would say that is 80% of cases, the patient could’ve been prescibed a different drug that would save a lot of money. My father in law was given a cholesterol medicine that was $350/month on insurance. After calling his insurance I found out that a drug in the same class could be only $3/month. I called the office and they agreed to switch it. My mom got a prescrpition for an antibiotic cipro xl and told me it would cost her $40 to fill it. I called the office and asked to call regular cipro to Publix…..it was completely free due to the program they offer. If you pay a lot of money for presciptions, talk to your pharmacist, doctor and if you have insurance, call them. There are almost always lower priced alernatives!! When I go to a doctor (ie I had a dermatologist appt), I printed out a copy of my insurance drugs/tiers. I asked the doctor to pick a cream from the cheapest tier, she looked at the list and picked one. Otherwise, I might have recieved some expensive alternative or worse….a sample of a drug that would not be covered long term. Some brand inhalers have 2 ingredients, getting 2 inhalers with each one of those ingredient separetly could save a lot of money too. There are soooo many drugs, don’t get stuck paying high prices!!!!
Thanks for taking the time to let us know the inside scoop 🙂
I use GoodRX for the majority of my prescriptions that are not on the $4/$10 list. However I also use Lowestmed for one of them since it is cheaper for that particular one, $55 vs $14. It pays to price compare the price comparison apps/websites. Even though the article was a little over a year old, Consumer Reports gave these companies great reviews which made me feel better since I was skeptical.
I just added this to my favorites list…great tool to have on hand! Thanks for sharing!
SOOOOO awesome thank you!!!
Meijer has some free antibiotics, prenatal vitamins, Metformin and generic Lipitor all free. You have to fill them every month but they also apply the free drug refills to their Mperks reward program which is $10off your next grocery purchase each time you fill 5 prescriptions. I actually make $2 on each refill. Walmart’s $9 on 90 days is great also.
Sorry, $10 for 90 days
My family and I transfer prescriptions from different pharmacies cause they usually have those store coupons
Thank you. This will help. There are a few stores not listed in my area but good overall.
Costco has fabulous prices. Give them a call for prices.
Check manufacturer websites. We get Epipens and Symbicort free with prescription with the savings card/coupons they have on the website. A friend gets Lipitor for $4 with prescription each month through website coupon.
Yes. We got auvi-q and Epi-pens free with MFG coupons from their site. These are for anaphylactic allergies.
I worry a little abt jumping pharmacies for coupons. Isn’t it important to have a pharmacist seeing all your meds and checkin for cross reactions?
Thank you! I was just about to comment that. Stick with one pharmacy folks- it could save your life.
Even if you only take one med, yes be careful about jumping between pharmacies. I did out of necessity while traveling and was given the wrong drug because the new pharmacy didn’t listen to what the old one said! And I took it for awhile not realizing the difference wasn’t just generic packaging. Thankfully they were very similar medications, but it could have been disastrous!
Talk to your pharmacist or the tech, sometimes they have discount cards from the drug manufacturers that will lower your cost even with insurance. Also sometimes a 3 month supply at the pharmacy can be lower..Just Ask…been there….
If you have to get an expensive prescription drug every month that your insurance doesn’t cover or without insurance at all, besides trying all the different ways everyone had posted about, you can also try calling the manufacturer directly and tell them you can’t afford to pay for their drug and what your situation is, then ask if they have any kind of programs that they offer for people like us. A lot of them actually have some programs for their products which you can join and get the drug for REALLY cheap or even for FREE. Doesn’t hurt to try! 😉
this could NOT have come at a better time. thank you SO much for this. i never comment, but this article just saved me $300/mo. I have never felt so much relief 😉
My husband takes atorvastatin and I have filled up at every single pharmacy in the area with and without the insurance and kroger has the lowest price.
In case no one has mentioned it yet, Meijer gives FREE Atorvastatin as long as you have a prescription for it.
Our family of 7 has 8-10 prescriptions a month. We have to pay all upfront and then submit to insurance so we pay a high up front cost up to $1000. a month. I flip the prescription to and from cvs and use free $10-25 giftcards competitor coupons. I have seen Shopko give out up to $50 giftcards! I also then watch for giftcard promotions at cub and rainbow for buying kmart giftcards and receiving a Catalina for free groceries up to $20 per $100. You need to run separate transactions for each $100 giftcard to receive multiply Catalinas. I then transfer to kmart get a free giftcard ( max typically of 4 per family member per promotion up to $100) from them for the transfer and use the kmart giftcards from club I just bought and have up to $200 of free groceries to buy! This happens only a couple times a year.
Just saved $5.00 with this prescription card. Thanks for sharing
I had a $150/month rx at Walmart. I went to the GoodRx site, printed the card and just paid $16. I kid you not.
Any current New Prescription $25 Gift offers out there ?
I work for a Parmacy Help Desk that helps to support this card and answer questions on a daily basis for people who are without insurance or are in the “Donut Hole”. Empathy is definitely not a hard emotion to have when helping them. I am proud to help support the card and do what I can do point people in the right direction!
GoodRX is helpful-we generally save 50-80% off prescriptions for my fiancé and our sons. Unfortunately, both of our sons just lost their TennCare coverage, so as of right now I am the only one in our family with any insurance. I have chronic health probs due to 2 freak accidents that occurred before I was 21, leaving me with a spinal compression fracture at L-1, a metal rod in my right leg, a skull that had to be rebuilt with a titanium mesh plate after having a craniotomy and the loss of my right eye. These 2 accidents occurred 6 months apart in 1999 when I was 21 years old and had no insurance. Before the Affordable Care Act became law, my monthly premium was $1600/month due to my “pre-existing conditions.” I had to pay it because I need ongoing surgeries–some of which can cost $30K–it just depends. Anyway, I cried tears of joy when Obamacare went into effect, as my monthly premium went down to $309/month!!! And I even live in a Republican state that didn’t expand Medicaid–which is why my fiancé can’t afford an ACA plan. Now, here we are waiting to see what they plan to do in Washington. I hope and pray they consider those of us whose lives depend on the ACA. Sorry to ramble on here, but I had to let folks know that there are literally millions of Americans with medical situations like mine. Our lives-and our families’ livelihood-literally depends upon us having affordable access to healthcare. 😕
Thanks so much for Hip2save! 😊 I use your site daily. You have helped me and my family tremendously. We are trying to save enough money so that we can afford to buy the entire family health insurance through the ACA Marketplace–as neither my fiancé’s job nor mine offers insurance. You have helped me learn how to cut corners wherever I can so that we just might have a shot at a family health insurance plan. Thank you so much! 😀