10 Ways To Save Money at the Pharmacy

So many generics, so little time.

Prescriptions can be expensive but the average consumer can cut their costs a bit with a little knowledge. Lets take a look at 10 money saving tips for the pharmacy that anyone can benefit from.

1)  Use this free card to save money on prescriptions!

A discount card is handy even if you have insurance because not all medications are covered. Things like vitamins and cough/cough products may not be covered by regular insurance. Although many of these cards tout huge savings of 50-90%, realistically it might be more along the lines of 20% or so depending on the exact card. Many are readily available online or you can simply ask at the pharmacy as they may have them as well. Obviously they are even more valuable if you have no insurance. One caveat that the card typically fails to mention is they cannot be used with regular prescription insurance.

2) Use branded medications as a last resort.

Your doctor may have failed to mention he prescribed you a brand only medication such as Nexium. You are shocked when you find out it is a $60 copay for 30 capsules. Don't fret because you have options. The pharmacy can likely call and get it switched to a similar generic. In this case omeprazole, lansoprazole, pantoprazole are all viable alternatives that will likely work the same at a fraction of the price. In many instances there will be similar generics even if the drug is branded. However, in some cases there really are no close drugs. It is always a good idea to try generics first and if you fail several generic medications to use a brand drug as last resort.

3) Ask for coupons.

The one upside of branded drugs is the manufacturers usually distribute coupons to doctors and pharmacies. So in some scenarios that $60 Nexium might turn out to be a deal. Let's say the pharmacy has a coupon for that drug where they pay the first $50 of your copay and you pay the rest. That would knock the Nexium from $60 to $10 a month. Just be careful and read the fine print of the coupon as lot of them aren't always a great deal, but depending on your insurance many of them can be.

4) See if 90 day supplies save money.

Many commercial insurance companies now give price breaks for 3 month supplies. For instance, a 1 month supply of a generic might be $10, whereas a 3 month supply might be $20. Most pharmacies can verify this for you.

5) Shop around.

Your medical insurance may have a preferred list of doctors to use. Your prescription coverage may have preferred pharmacies as well. For instance a $15 monthly copay at Rite Aid might be only $5 at Walgreens because your insurance considers it a preferred pharmacy.

6) Double check OTC recommendations with your pharmacist.

Doctors will recommend OTC medications from time to time for patients but they can sometimes be expensive. Mucinex for example can be pricey, usually a larger box will run you well over $20. You get the convenience of twice daily dosing but you sure do pay for it. A pharmacist, on the other hand, could recommend you something like generic Robitussin with the same active ingredients, that will help with cough/mucus. You may have to take it much more frequently but a $6 bottle can be much more cost effective for people on limited budgets who don't necessarily want to spend $20+ on a more expensive treatment.

7) Cut costs by cutting tablets.

Back when drugs popular drugs like Lipitor had no generic people loved the effectiveness of the drug but hated the price. So doctors started to write prescriptions for higher doses of Lipitor and using a half tablet daily. Typically the lower quantity of tablets meant for a lower copay. So if you were intended to get 20 mg of Lipitor daily a doctor could write a script for 40 mg take 1/2 tablet daily quantity of 15 for a 30 day supply. In one instance I remember a patient and doctor took that idea a bit farther (not to mention bordering on unethical and fraudulent) and the Dr. simply wrote him a script for Lipitor 80 mg Use As Directed quantity of 30 pills. Obviously he was half-ing the tablets, effectively getting a 60 day supply out of 30 pills, because he would get it refilled every other month.

8)  Outsmart flat fee generic copays.

A lot of older generics are very cheap and still widely used. Sometimes the actual cost of the drug might be less than your copay. In other words you may have a flat fee generic copay where regardless of the cost, your copay would be, say, $10. Lets say that you have a dental appointment and you are prescribed 1 single Ativan tablet to help you relax before the procedure. Your flat fee copay is $10 for that single tablet, when the cost is considerable lower. Remember the discount card I mentioned before? Use that instead of your regular insurance and beat that pesky flat fee.

9) Transfer Pharmacies.

A lot of retail pharmacies, from time to time, will offer a gift card for people who transfer their prescriptions from another pharmacy to theirs. So in theory you could like your existing pharmacy, but transfer a script to another establishment for a month just to get a $25 gift card, and then simply have it transferred back. Unfortunately this is not as common as it used to be, but occasionally pharmacies do still offer transfer incentives.

10) Just be healthy.

Remember, the best way to save money at a pharmacy is to not have to go to one at all. Diet and lifestyle are huge contributing factors, make healthy choices for yourself and avoid being on a dozen medications when you are 50 years old.