Prescription medications are a major household expense. Paying full price for brand name prescriptions can sometimes cost hundreds to thousands of dollars per month. Savvy consumers should be taking advantage of different programs that make prescriptions affordable. Patients should always talk to their physicians too if they are concerned about medication costs. A doctor could offer an alternative drug or discuss different drug savings programs that may help.
Comparison Shop
Both prescriptions and over-the-counter medications vary significantly between retailers. The cost of the medication at one retailer may be five times more at another. Patients can shop online for medications too and save money. Online retailers typically offer competitive pricing on medications. The key thing to remember is patients should choose only reputable websites for any type of medications purchased online.
Request Generics
As long as a doctor approves, patients should always request generic medications from their pharmacies. The active medication in the prescription is the same for both brand name and generic versions. However, brand name drugs will have a higher cost. If a generic isn’t available, patients could check with the pharmacist if there is a similar medication on the market with a generic available. An over-the-counter medicine may be possible too. For instance, certain pain relievers and allergy medications cost less over-the-counter.
Locate Volume Discounts
Certain pharmacies, like mail order types, will give discounts for larger volume orders. For instance, the cost of 90 days worth of medication from a mail order pharmacy may be the same cost as 30 days of medication from a local pharmacy. Further, in some cases, doctors could prescribe a higher dosage of a medication and allow the patient to split the tablets with a pill splitter.
Discount Prescription Cards
Patients can take advantage of discount prescription programs to save on medications. The drug discount programs are offered to patients who are paying for prescriptions with cash in lieu of an insurance plan. Discount prescription plans could save patients as much as 80 percent off certain medicines. For patients in financial need, they can apply for drug assistance programs to assuage the costs.