what is cheaper than goodrx

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badatmath

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I was looking at my med and it costs more under goodrx than under my insurance. . .

with ins $26
with goodrx (depending on store)$32 to $136 roughly.

How does a person save money on Rx if not that way? (I'm on private insurance not ACA or Medicare).

Yes, I realize $26 for 3 months won't break the bank but I need to learn more about this as I get older and take more meds.
 
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DW takes few prescription drugs. Sometimes a new one would come up with a little higher price, she will then check the price from GoodRx. She would then bring it up with the pharmacist from CVS and asks if they have any other coupons that they can apply. More often than not, the pharmacist would find some coupons to apply that wouild cut down 2/3 of the price, to our surprice.

So, you might want to ask your local pharmacist to see if they have any coupons that they could apply to your prescription. YMMV.
 
GoodRx cut one of my prescriptions to half price, but it was still 3 times as much as it was through insurance.
 
OP - You didn't consider the premium you are paying for drug coverage...

Compare your premium + insurance drug cost for 1 year
vs
Someone buying the same amount of same drug on goodrx for 1 year

Which is cheaper now ?
 
Thanks, I will check out the coupons idea provided by fh2000 and the sites provided by tfudtuckerpucker.

I got to thinking about this because my neighbor told me she takes 3 Rx per month and pays a grand total of $12.50 so I thought well gosh I must be missing out, I should look at this. Surely this is something everyone knows and I have just only been on one Rx before this year and never gave it much thought.

Sunset, the drug plan is not separate from the rest of the insurance so IDK how much it "costs" specifically for that part. Certainly not as cheap as when I was employed!

Looks like costplus is cheapest by about $5 but they don't appear to have my other (cheap, brand) med. Not to say that is a problem just an observation.
 
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I know that my local Harris Teeter Pharmacy has their own drug discount from corporate. They run all Rx thru their internal program and it is often times cheaper than GoodRx. I take a Tier 1 Generic that is Free at HT.
 
Yeah Amz is same price with insurance - it wasn't on the $5 list. Plus I can only use certain pharmacies if I am using insurance - at least for maintenance meds. $178 without insurance.

Not sure Amz needs any more details about me either though now they will forever remember my search. At least is is an ordinary med LOL.

Northforker, it says you have to have an Rx on file and create a pharmacy profile.
 
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- if your insurance permits check different pharmacies for their prices. GoodRX should show you pricing for a number of pharmacies

- Try SingleCare...similar to GoodRX.
 
If it a generic drug you need, check out CostPlusDrugs.com

I have a friend saving over $28,000+ a year using them, based on the retail price. Even with the friend's Medicare Rx plan, their cost on that Part D plan would still be MUCH higher as this is a tier 5 specialty drug.

As you may not know, pharmacy benefit managers use the insurance system to dramatically markup the price so they can offer "discounts." CostPlusDrugs generally doesn't take any insurance, and they don't mark up the price before offering you a discount. They sell at cost + plus a small shipping fee. I believe they are often cheaper than Amazon, Costco and Walmart etc., at least at the moment. Any, yes, this is a US based operation. Your doctor can just as easily send the order to them as to CVS...

Of course, if you are getting a generic for free or a reasonably low price, then I'd continue to use that method if it is convenient for you.
 
Northforker said:
If I want to use Amazon, do I need to ask my doctor to send my prescriptions to Amazon Pharmacy?
Click to expand...
You can have Amazon take care of transferring an existing prescription that has refill. For new you have DR send to Amazon. Amazon Pharmacy is my main pharmacy through my Florida Blue insurance.
 
Today's Wall Street Journal (9/11/23) has a nice article on the very high markups that insurance companies and their pharmacy benefit managers are charging for generic drugs.

The title of the article (behind paywall) is: "Generic Drugs Should Be Cheap, but Insurers Are Charging Thousands of Dollars for Them.
Health insurers mark up prices of generics for cancer, multiple sclerosis and other complicated diseases"

The article says "Across a selection of these so-called specialty generic drugs, Cigna and CVS’s prices were at least 24 times higher on average than roughly what the medicines’ manufacturers charge, the Journal found."

It's worth reading this article if you are taking expensive generics.
 
Northforker said:
If I want to use Amazon, do I need to ask my doctor to send my prescriptions to Amazon Pharmacy?
Click to expand...

your doctor needs to fax it to them, i tried to fax it but they rejected it.
once my doc did I was good to go
 
plsprius said:
Today's Wall Street Journal (9/11/23) has a nice article on the very high markups that insurance companies and their pharmacy benefit managers are charging for generic drugs.

The title of the article (behind paywall) is: "Generic Drugs Should Be Cheap, but Insurers Are Charging Thousands of Dollars for Them.
Health insurers mark up prices of generics for cancer, multiple sclerosis and other complicated diseases"

The article says "Across a selection of these so-called specialty generic drugs, Cigna and CVS’s prices were at least 24 times higher on average than roughly what the medicines’ manufacturers charge, the Journal found."

It's worth reading this article if you are taking expensive generics.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I guess I should be greatful mine aren't really $$.
 
FiveDriver said:
I know that my local Harris Teeter Pharmacy has their own drug discount from corporate. They run all Rx thru their internal program and it is often times cheaper than GoodRx. I take a Tier 1 Generic that is Free at HT.
Click to expand...
Yes! Mine too. And they have very little staff turn over. Same pharmacists for years. Great people.

I know HT is part of corporate giant Kroger, but it feels local. They act local and find the best price.

plsprius said:
Today's Wall Street Journal (9/11/23) has a nice article on the very high markups that insurance companies and their pharmacy benefit managers are charging for generic drugs.

The title of the article (behind paywall) is: "Generic Drugs Should Be Cheap, but Insurers Are Charging Thousands of Dollars for Them.
Health insurers mark up prices of generics for cancer, multiple sclerosis and other complicated diseases"

The article says "Across a selection of these so-called specialty generic drugs, Cigna and CVS’s prices were at least 24 times higher on average than roughly what the medicines’ manufacturers charge, the Journal found."

It's worth reading this article if you are taking expensive generics.
Click to expand...

When I switched from CVS to Harris Teeter a few years ago, CVS gave me gruff. They called me, bugged me, made the switchover at Harris Teeter difficult, etc.

CVS can kiss my <>
 
I found www.dirxhealth.com to be pretty cheap on generics. They have two flat rate plans that might be cheaper than their regular prices if you are buying quite a few drugs. You can check and see which plan covers the drugs you need. They don't carry everything but they seem to have a good number of the more common generics.
 
RS53576GG said:
I found www.dirxhealth.com to be pretty cheap on generics. They have two flat rate plans that might be cheaper than their regular prices if you are buying quite a few drugs. You can check and see which plan covers the drugs you need. They don't carry everything but they seem to have a good number of the more common generics.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
 
Very timely thread for me. I was given a prescription yesterday and it's not covered on my Medicare Part D plan. The cost is $191 for 60 day supply. Since I signed up for Medicare with Boomer Benefits I called them and they emailed me a coupon so I could buy the drug for $55.

They also sent me links to CleverRx and GoodRx in case I need to get a prescription in the future that is not on my plan. I understand you have to sign up at CleverRx and GoodRx but they have free plans available.

To the OP, I'd check out CleverRx and see if they are cheaper than Goodrx.
 
I went to my local CVS for some prescription. I can't remember what. When I presented my GoodRX, the pharmacist asked if I wanted her to look for a better price. Of course, I said "Sure". She went into the computer to get the lowest price from other companies than GoodRX. She found one like a buck or two lower than GoodRx and applied it to my cost.

I don't have any ongoing prescriptions, so I always weigh the benefit of the discounted price vs working toward my Drug Plan deductible.
 
rk911 said:
- if your insurance permits check different pharmacies for their prices. GoodRX should show you pricing for a number of pharmacies

- Try SingleCare...similar to GoodRX.
Click to expand...

+1

I find SingleCare generally beats GoodRX.
 
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