Prescription medications can be very expensive in the US. When a person does not have prescription insurance or for some other reason needs to pay out of pocket, how can we quickly find out how much the medication will cost?
Also, how can we find out if it will be cheaper to use pills with a higher milligram strength or purchase a greater number of pills at a time? And, most importantly, how can we find out which pharmacy the patient should go to for getting the lowest possible price in his area?
The website I routinely use, and recommend to my patients, is Goodrx.com.
One can search for the cost of a particular medication in a particular zip code. One can print out a coupon to get a lower price. I actually did this myself to get a lower price for a relative who did not have health insurance in the US. One can also see what the price will be at different pharmacies in the area. You may be surprised to find that the price varies significantly for the exact same medication!
One can also compare the cost of generic versus brand name medication.
And, one can see whether ordering a larger number of pills will save money (or not).
Lastly, the patient should obtain the free coupon (by print, email, or text). If the patient goes to the exact same pharmacy but without the coupon, the price will probably be greater.
(Note: This image of a coupon is presented only as an example and this is not a valid coupon)
Have you not heard of Goodrx.com before seeing this web page? Please do let us know in the Leave a Reply box below. If you used Goodrx.com for your patients, please let us knowin the Leave a Reply box below what your experience with it was.
Disclaimer: Neither Simpleandpractical.com nor Rajnish Mago, MD are in any way affiliated with Goodrx.com and are not responsible for the accuracy of the information provided on Goodrx.com. Anyone using the website Goodrx.com is fully responsible for checking and comparing prices of medications.
Related Pages
Medication pricing: So this is how it works (external link)
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Good morning Dr. Mago,
Yes, GoodRx is a wonderful resource and I’ve been using this app for a few years now. I tell patients to download the app to their mobile phone and look for the coupons and best price just as you outlined. Patients have reported saving hundreds of dollars per
month using brand medications, like Latuda.
Thank you kindly for caring about every aspect of psychiatry, including the cost of medications to our patients!
Sincerely,
Dr. Chris Cotner
I routinely recommend GoodRx to all uninsured patients, and often can find a reasonable rate on a med for patients who are insured but their insurance plan is denying coverage for a particular med. In this case, they often need to use a different pharmacy from the one that has their insurance info entered in its database.