4 Tips to Help You Save on Prescription Medications

More than 80 percent of Americans consider prescriptions drug costs to be unreasonable, according to a recent survey conducted by Kaiser Family Foundation. It’s such a concern that it’s become an important area of health policy. 

The good news is you don’t have to wait for legislative action to save on prescription medication costs. There are steps you can take now.

1. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist. 

If you’re taking expensive medications, discuss more affordable options with your doctor or pharmacist. Brand-name drugs usually require a higher copayment. Your doctor or pharmacist might be able to find a less expensive brand or a generic equivalent. Generic drugs can lower drug costs between 30 and 80 percent. Generics must meet the Federal Drug Administration’s (FDA) criteria for efficacy and quality as brand names and work in the same manner. 

There are so many prescription drugs on the market and health plans available, it’s difficult for doctors to remember which medications are covered by your plan. But you can head off some financial strain by knowing your insurance formulary and asking your doctor to indicate on the prescription that generic substitutions are allowed.  
 
You also can discuss the possibility using over-the-counter alternative. Over the last decade, many prescription drugs have become available over the counter, particularly ones that treat:

• Allergies
• Pain
• Heartburn
• Bacterial infections
• Sinus congestion

Glucose strips for blood glucose testing devices are often available over the counter and are cheaper than getting them through prescription.

You should also ask your doctor for free samples. They may have a short-term supply in the office.

2. Use medications as directed.

About half of American adults taking medication don’t follow instructions, leading to problems such as poor medication efficacy or development of another condition that can require more medication. Our best advice is to save medication bottles and boxes so that you have the instructions. And be sure to ask your doctor or pharmacist if you have questions. 

3. Compare pharmacies.

Large retail chains offer many benefits: They’re open seven days a week, offer automatic refills, send refill reminders and have drive-through windows. But they may be more expensive than pharmacies operating at warehouse club stores, discount retailers and supermarkets. Mark-up on medications subsidizes those additional services. If you don’t need these services, look for a different pharmacy. 

If you have multiple prescriptions and have time to shop, visit various pharmacies. Walmart may be cheaper option for certain drugs, where a grocery chain may be cheaper on others. Some retailers may even fill prescriptions for some common generic drugs for free or for a very nominal fee.

Don’t forget to check out mail order and online pharmacy services. They may be less expensive. Depending on your insurer’s pharmacy benefit manager, you may be able to get your prescriptions cheaper through a mail order pharmacy. This is especially true of generic drugs. But don’t assume -- compare prices first. 

Ask your doctor for 90-day supply. Some pharmacies and mail order services offer discounts if you buy in bulk. You’ll probably have to ask your doctor to prescribe a 90-day prescription supply to take advantages of savings. This could mean spending more up front in copays but saving in the long run. There are some obstacles. Your doctor probably won’t write a long-term prescription for you if you’re using it on a trial or short-term basis. And some insurance companies don’t cover 90-day prescriptions.    

4. Work with pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies. 

Sometimes, the price of a medication is less expensive than your copay. It’s common with antibiotics and mental health drugs. That said, don’t simply default to using your insurance. Ask your pharmacist if the retail cost of the medication is cheaper than your insurance copay. 

You should also ask your pharmacist is they sponsor or accept any discount programs to help subsidize medication costs. Here are a few examples. 

• AARP Prescription Discount Card is a free prescription discount card accepted by more than 66,000 pharmacies nationwide and can help you save on FDA-approved prescription drugs not covered by insurance. The program is open to anyone (AARP member or not) but AARP members receive additional benefits such as deeper drug discounts, home delivery and coverage for dependents.
• Rite Aid Rx Savings Program works with SingleCare to provide a prescription discount card that can help you save up to 80 percent on prescriptions. Discounts are the result of negotiated lowered rates with pharmaceutical companies. The program is free, and cards don’t expire. 
• Costco Member Prescription Program provides discounts to Costco members without prescription drug coverage or taking medications not covered by their insurance. 
• CVS ExtraCare Pharmacy and Health Rewards Program allows shoppers to earn up to $50 in Pharmacy & Health ExtraBucks Rewards per year through shopping and filling prescriptions. The ExtraCare card also links to your CVS.com account so that you can get credit for online activities. Balances reset each year on December 31. Target pharmacies are run by CVS in 47 states and honor the CVS ExtraCare Pharmacy and Health Rewards. 
• Walgreens Prescription Savings Club is $20 per year for an individual membership and $35 per year for a family membership and provides discounts on prescriptions, immunizations, services at Walgreens Healthcare Clinic and a bonus on in-store photofinishing services. 
• Walmart Pharmacy Services is a full-service pharmacy that offers $4 refills on a 30-day supply or $10 for a 90-day supply of many prescriptions. 
• Narcup.com Prescription Discount Card is a discount program that can help families with children and grandchildren who do not have prescription drug insurance or whose insurance does not cover every medication save as much as 50 percent on FDA approved drugs. Membership fees do not apply.
• Needymeds is a national non-profit organization that connects people to programs that will help them afford their medications and other healthcare costs. Signing up for their $4 Generic Discount Drug Program and NeedyMeds Drug Discount Card can help you save on medications.
• RXassist offers a comprehensive database of pharmaceutical company led patient assistance programs that provide free medications to people who cannot afford their medicine, as well as practical tools, news and articles that helps patients can find the information they need. 

You also can reach out to the pharmaceutical company directly for discounts. Pharmaceutical companies offer Patient Assistance Programs (commonly referred to as PAPs) -- special programs that grant brand-name drugs at a discounted rate or possibly even free, through reimbursements and other methods.

Why are prescription costs so high? 

In 2022, Americans spent $633.5 billion on medications – a 9.1 percent increase in expenditures since 2021, according to a report published in the American Journal of Health-Systems Pharmacy. For the average American, that means shelling out roughly $1,300 on prescription drugs each year, according to Bloomberg. This is more than any other developed nation. 

Many factors are involved in drug pricing. Some revolve around safety and efficacy, while others are more profit driven. For example, it can take up to 10 years and about $2.6 billion to bring a new drug to market, according to the trade association PhRMA. Most pharmaceutical companies submit results from two clinical trials to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); that alone costs on average $19 million. There are additional costs associated with post-market efforts to detect and manage risks such as an FDA-approved drug label, a monitoring system and possibly a Risk Management and Mitigation Strategy (commonly known as REMS). And of course, drug companies pay operational expenses such as salary, overhead and marketing. It takes years to recoup these expenses, which is why medications remain highly priced years after they’ve been approved.

Drug pricing also is opaque. The same drug may be priced differently depending on a patient’s insurance coverage or on the pharmacy that fills the prescription. 

“Unfortunately, it’s difficult to get a breakdown of the amount of money needed to develop a drug, which leaves many patients frustrated because they don’t understand what they’re paying for and why costs are so high,” says Bernard Kaminetsky, MD, medical director, MDVIP. “Without a method of cost comparison, many patients feel powerless to discuss affordable treatment options with their physician.”

Once a drug is on the market, patents enable pharmaceutical companies to dictate the price of the medication. It also protects the company from competitors, including generic pharmaceutical companies, from developing a comparable or cheaper version of the medication for 20 years. Toward the end of a patent, a company can extend it by releasing a new variation of the drug. But even if company lets the patent expire, some medications are simply very expensive to develop and manufacture, so regardless of how many versions of the drug are available, the costs remain high.

“Politicians from both sides of the aisle have been working to reduce pharma costs for years. But it’s such as complex issue. I think it will be a while before patients see some financial relief,” Kaminetsky says. “In the meantime, focus on strategies that can help reduce your costs, like working with your doctor.”

If you don’t have a primary care physician, consider partnering with an MDVIP-affiliated physician? Physicians in MDVIP-affiliated practices have the time to really work with you and can discuss your medications. Find an MDVIP affiliate near you and begin your partnership in health »