Let’s face it; a discussion about prescription costs is not on top of most people’s minds. Therefore, families only budget for basic needs such as food, clothing, housing, and transportation.
However, unforeseen medical circumstances that often are expensive might arise, thereby preventing you from sticking to a strict individual budget. To help you address this issue, here are five tips on how you can save money on prescription costs.
Shop around
The price of prescription drugs varies from one vendor to another because some buy directly from the drug makers whereas others use intermediaries which subsequently drives the prices up.
Therefore, you should always compare the drug prices at supermarkets, local pharmacies, online vendors, mail-order pharmacies, and retailers. Moreover, you can make use of your smartphone or computer to make work easier.
Nevertheless, you should only shop around if you are paying in cash for your medication because if you have an insurance cover, the pay usually does not vary very much.
Use generic medication
Generic medications have similar active ingredients as those found in brand-name drugs but are considerably cheaper. However, doctors usually do not recommend using these drugs, but you should point out that medication cost for you is an important consideration.
Despite generic drugs being cheaper in comparison to the brand-name counterparts, they are still required to meet the same standards in purity, strength, as well as quality. Therefore, you should have no concerns that these medications will not effectively cure your illness.
Apply for assistance
Nonprofit groups, Medicare, drug makers, local governments, and states usually offer numerous types of Prescription Assistance Programs and they typically come with income requirements.
Some of the nonprofit organizations include Partnership for Prescription Assistance and Needy Meds as well as other resources, including Medicare Extra Help and state assistance programs.
Additionally, you can directly get in touch with the manufacturer to get the prescription drugs and look up the medication on the Medicare website.
Buy a bigger dose
To reduce the overall cost of medication you use routinely, inquire from your doctor whether you can get a 90-day supply rather than a one-month supply. Some retail pharmacies and mail-order pharmacies such as Healthwarehouse.com offer you price breaks for buying prescriptions in bigger dosages.
Nevertheless, you must confirm from your doctor whether it is possible to split your medication if you have a double dosage. This is because some drugs like tablets or capsules cannot be divided.
Furthermore, instead of getting a 30-day prescription and having your insurance copay every time, request for the 90-day supply hence copay only once after every three months. However, this only works for prescription drugs you use in the long-term.
Ask for a discount
Many organizations nowadays offer drug-discount cards that allow you to get price breaks that can reach 80 percent while at the pharmacy if you are paying in cash.
Additionally, some of these cards have eligibility requirements, whereas others are free and the amount of money you get to save depends on the pharmacy, or express pharmacy and medication.
Likewise, you can apply for coupon codes which typically save you money on certain medications, but only work if you pay in cash.
Photo by Michael Longmire on Unsplash
