Are you paying more
at the pharmacy counter?
Consumer Reports’ Best Buy Drugs experts have ideas
that can save you time and money.
Ask for a discount. When Consumer Reports
had its secret shoppers contact a variety of pharmacies by phone to price a
market basket of common medications, they found that asking for the best deal
got them occasional discounts. For example, at a supermarket pharmacy outside
Des Moines, a shopper was first quoted a price of $75 for generic Actos, a
diabetes drug, but after asking whether there was a better deal, she was
offered the drug for $21.
Other tactics: Be sure to ask what a medication will cost if you don’t use your insurance (a generic’s price may be less than your co-pay), and ask about any senior, student or other discounts for which you may be eligible.
Shop around. Retail drug prices
can differ greatly from one drugstore to the next, even in the same Zip code.
For example, in Denver, the grocery store Albertson’s Save-On said its price
for generic Actos was $330, but nearby Cherry Creek Pharmacy said it would sell
it for just $15.
What about online
drugstores? Skip those that are based in other countries, no matter how good
the discounts. It’s illegal to order drugs for import from outside the United
States, and they may not be safe or effective. If you want to order online for
convenience, do so only from big-box stores, chains and independents that you
know and trust. And because it’s wise to fill all of your prescriptions at one
store (so that the pharmacist can flag potential drug interactions), once you
find lower prices on the medications you take regularly, make it your go-to
pharmacy.
Consider Costco. In all states, you
can fill prescriptions there without being a member. And if you pay for
medication out of pocket, you may reap big savings. Consumer Reports’ shoppers
found that Costco usually offered the lowest retail prices on drugs. For
example, a month’s supply of the antidepressant duloxetine was $220 at a Kmart
and a Walgreens in Raleigh, N.C., but only $43 at a nearby Costco.
If you’re a member,
you can join the Costco Member Prescription Program for free. That can net you
savings of up to 40 percent on brand-name and generic meds (but only if you
don’t have drug coverage or if insurance doesn’t cover all of your prescription
medications).
Call the
independents. The secret shoppers
found that independent pharmacies, which are often smaller, can offer extremely
low prices on certain medications. You may also have better luck negotiating at
independents, which may have more pricing autonomy than chains. To find out
whether an independent near you has a better deal on the medications you take,
call several to ask for their absolute lowest prices.
Think 90 days. If you take drugs
long term, you may be wasting time and paying extra money by making a monthly
trip to the pharmacy for refills. Ask your insurance company whether you can
get three months’ worth of medicine at a time. If you can, have your doctor
write a 90-day prescription.
Skip economy-size
OTCs. You probably think
you save the most money by buying the largest available containers of
over-the-counter drugs. But the shoppers found that the savings on medium sizes
were often comparable to the biggest bottles because drugs in economy sizes are
more likely to expire before you get a chance to use them all. Small sizes of
OTCs were the worst buy of all.
Copyright 2015.
Consumers Union of United States Inc.
For further guidance,
go to www.ConsumerReports.org/Health, where more
detailed information, including CR’s ratings of prescription drugs, treatments,
hospitals and healthy-living products, is available to subscribers.
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