Costco—$42.49
7. Furosemide (40 mg tablet, quantity 100)
CVS—$16.99
Walgreens—$8.99
Costco—$8.49
8. Amoxicillin (500 mg capsule, quantity 30)
CVS—$14.59
Walgreens—$13.99
Costco—$8.17
9. Norvasc (10 mg tablet, quantity 100)
CVS—$230.99
Walgreens—$176.79
Costco—$181.27
10. Alprazolam (1 mg tablet, quantity 90)
CVS—$27.89
Walgreens—$26.29
Costco—$9.39
Wherever you buy, and whether or not you have health insurance that covers prescription drugs, you have to decide whether to buy generic or brand-name drugs. Many generics are exact pharmacological copies of brand-name drugs. Others are chemically different, but are supposed to treat the medical condition equally well. If the medicine is pharmacologically identical, you should have no problem choosing the generic, and saving money. If the generic isn’t exactly the same as the brand-name, talk to your doctor about whether you should try it. And tell your doctor you may not be able to afford the brand-name drug.
About a third of all prescriptions are not filled at all because people can’t afford them. The pharmacist will say, “That’s eighty-two dollars,” and the person will decide not to buy it. It makes more sense to try a generic than to not use any medicine at all.
Sometimes doctors will prescribe an expensive drug without realizing that another drug that would do just as good a job costs a lot less. The Internet now gives you the ability to compare different drugs and choose a cheaper alternative. You can check the drug your doctor prescribes at www.rxaminer.com, find a cheaper alternative, and see if your doctor will agree to prescribe the less-expensive drug. This is especially helpful with drugs you take regularly.
You can save on some medicines by getting a stronger dose and cutting the pills in half. Believe it or not, some medicines cost almost the same whether you buy, say, a 20-milligram or 40-milligram pill. So if you buy one hundred 40-milligram pills and cut them in half, you’ll get two hundred 20-milligram doses for almost the same price. You’ll cut your prescription prices almost in half.
Finally, you can lower your drug costs by using a plan your employer may offer called a cafeteria plan, or a flexible spending plan. You can use a flexible spending plan to help pay medical or child-care costs. You ask your employer to take a specified amount of money out of each paycheck, and you use that money to pay for medicines, deductibles, copayments, and other medical costs that aren’t paid by the company health plan. The advantage is you can pay those costs out of gross, or before-tax, dollars. Since $200 off your gross pay often will equal $120 to $140 of your net pay, you get a substantial discount.
The downside is you can’t tell your employer to take out more or less money during the year, and you lose any money that’s left in the account at the end of the year. So if you have $1,000 taken out and draw only $600 from the account, you lose $400. That’s the reason I generally don’t favor using flexible spending accounts for medical care, except for known expenses like a prescription medicine. If you don’t budget well, you can lose. However, because of the discount, you can lose a little money in the account and still come out ahead.
If you think you’ll have $1,000 in prescription drug expenses in a year, try having $750 of your pay diverted to your flexible spending account. If you exceed the $750, pay the rest out of your net pay, and increase your contribution to the flexible spending account next year.
• Tips on Prescription Drugs •
Save by ordering your regular prescriptions online from Canada.
If you are 65 or older, or your parents are that age, check to see if the drug manufacturers offer senior discounts on the drugs you need.
If you need a prescription on short notice, buy from your local warehouse club for the best prices.
Check the drug your doctor prescribes at
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