ddsrph

I just discovered something that may be of interest. My sister in Indiana was in need of advice for a medication her insurance was refusing to pay for. In her case I got the dosage form changed from liquid to capsules and payment approved. But in the process I looked into the GoodRx discount system and it could be very helpful. You go to their website and type in your zip code and drug in question and they display the cost at several pharmacies both chain and small independents. In her case the drug for the required 10 day supply varied from $80 to $320 dollars if purchased without insurance. You select the pharmacy you prefer and print out a coupon or photograph it to show pharmacy. As a retired Pharmacist and Dentist I realize that prices are unregulated and can vary wildly. Many chains have complicated pricing strategies that price certain drugs very low to give the impression of good prices then nail you big time for other drugs. I have no first hand knowledge of GoodRx but would be interested in what others have or will discover going forward.

Jack_Russells4ever

I can recommend GoodRx. When I lived in the States I used them and did save a lot of $ on my prescriptions. That of course was more than 7 years ago.

Jolly Good

I had a similar problem earlier this year and used GoodRx. The pharmacist was really helpful and like your sister the pharmacist changed my liquid medicine to a pill. She also recommended me dissolving the humongous pill in a small amount of water. It certainly helped taking it that way. And it certainly helped with the price.

Pulaski

We have used GoodRx as a resource when looking for the best price for epinephrin injectors for our daughter, which have been subject to predatory/ abusive pricing in recent years, with the owner of the "Epipen" brand trying to charge a price that caused an out-of-pcoket charge to the patient of $600 or more for the market-leading brand's injectors. We used GoodRx to identify which pharmacy had the best price, and the injector brands that were not being priced abusively. It was remarkable how much variation there was between different pharmacies, and even between the same pharmacy chain in different towns, which was a surprise to us.

Footnote: There was such a backlash to the pricing of a product that can literally be a lifesaver for someone in anaphylactic shock, that the prices got slashed and for the past 2-3 years we have been able to obtain the injectors for zero out of pocket cost.

RICH

How many times have you needed the epipen?

Giantaxe

I use GoodRx for a prescription and it works out about a third of the cost of if I used my Medicare Drug plan. That's an indication of just how messed up it is that Medicare cannot yet negotiate any drug prices with manufacturers.