How to Save Money on Your Prescription Medications : eBay Guides

Take These 9 Steps to Save Money on Your Prescription Medications

Everyone is aware of the high cost of prescription medications. If you have no insurance or no prescription benefits on your insurance, there are some ways you can bring down the price you pay for medication.

When your doctor prescribes a new medication for you:

Ask for a generic if it is available. Generics cost on average of 20 to 90% less than their brand name counterpart. The standards for quality of both brand name drugs and generics are identical and both are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. About 50% of generic drugs are manufactured by the same company in the same factories as the brand name drug. Brand name drugs cost more because the drug company has a patent on new medications for 17 years to help recoup the costs of research and development. When the patent expires other companies are allowed to produce generic versions. These companies don’t have that initial start up cost. For example, the cholesterol lowering drug called Mevacor 40 mg goes for $123 for 30 tablets. The generic version called lovastatin 40 mg sells for $63 for the same number of tablets.

Ask if there is a less expensive alternative medication that will work just as well for you. Nearly every class of drug has several medications in it and the cost can vary quite a bit. For example, in the category of cholesterol lowering medications called statins, there is a broad range of prices: Lescol 40 mg is $58 for 30 tablets as compared to Zocor 40 mg which sells for $134 for 30 tablets.

Ask for samples. There is nothing more wasteful than having a drawer full of expensive medications that you can’t take because of side effects or an allergy. Before you know how you will respond to a medication, ask for a 2 week sample. If your doctor doesn’t have any, ask for a smaller initial prescription or ask your pharmacy to give you 1 or 2 weeks worth out of your full month prescription.

Shop around to get the best price. Nothing is worse than going to pick up your prescription and hearing the words “that will be $300 please”. There is a wide range of prices that pharmacies charge for generic medications in particular. That is because generics are manufactured by many different companies and their prices vary. Some pharmacies mark up their generic medications 10 to 50 times their wholesale cost. Call or drop by your local pharmacy and ask for a price quote. If they won’t give you one, think about whether or not you feel comfortable spending your money there. In general Costco, Walmart, Kmart and Target give you the best prices on generic medications. The retail pharmacy chains tend to have higher markups. Another way to check prices is on the internet. Do a Google search for the name of your medication and compare prices that way. If you do buy from an internet pharmacy, watch out for shipping and handling charges. You won’t save much if the drug is cheap but the shipping is outrageous.
 
Speaking of mail order pharmacies, sometimes you can get a better price buying a 3 month supply from them as opposed to a one month supply at a local pharmacy. Costco often gives a break in price if you buy a bottle of 100 tablets because they don’t have to count out a 90 day supply and repackage it for you. If you have insurance with prescription coverage, you may not have many choices where you get your medications.
 
If you are not having luck getting a good price on brand name medication, you could shop online for a good Canadian pharmacy. The prices on brand name medications can be substantially less because Canada has strict price controls on pharmaceuticals. There is not as good of a price break on generic medications. Canadian pharmacies are regulated under very similar laws as the U.S. pharmacies. There has been a lot of controversy around the legality of buying your medications from Canada but as of this writing, most people I know who buy their medications there have no problems. I used to buy one of my medications there before I had insurance. It cost me the same price as in the U.S. but I got a 90 day supply in Canada for what I paid for 30 days in the states. Again, watch the shipping and handling fees. Don’t shop any pharmacy that doesn’t require a prescription to order drugs. Most Canadian pharmacies require you to fill out a health questionnaire and submit a written prescription from a doctor. Many times a Canadian doctor will review the prescription before filling it. It takes longer to get your initial prescription filled there so keep that in mind before you order.

Some medications (tablets) can be cut in half. This does not work for sustained or timed release tablets or for capsules. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if it is safe to do this with your medication. If you are taking one that can be cut in two, ask your doctor to prescribe a higher dose of pill. You can then cut it in half and make it last for 6 months instead of 3.
 
If you have a low income and have no other kinds of assistance like Medicare, Medicaid, VA benefits or insurance you might qualify for a Patient Assistance Program through the pharmaceutical company that manufactures the drug. These companies get a nice tax break if offer these programs. Do a Google search for a site called Needy Meds. This is a great site that gives you information about programs offered for that medication. Know both the brand and generic names of your medications. Usually the programs are offered for the brand name. If you can’t find a program for the brand name, do a search for the generic name. Needy Meds offers this information for free. Be wary of programs that offer to get you free medications but charge you a fee. Some companies charge you $300 a year to give you information you can find for yourself for free.
 
Are you a Veteran? It pays to apply for Veteran benefits. As our population ages and the older population of Veterans die off, there is more money in their program and they change the qualifications for applying. All they can do is say no. Do a Google search on medication assistance programs in your state. Illinois has a program called Circuit Breakers that has low co pays on medications.

You can save a lot of money if any one of these ideas help you. Remember, never leave your doctor’s office without understanding what you are taking, what the expected benefits are, what the side effects might be, how long you should take it and if there are less expensive alternatives.