Saving Money On Your Prescriptions

Saving money on your prescriptions is an important way to cut costs and improve your health. Everything is getting more and more expensive these days, with rising gas, rent, and food prices. Here are some tips to help to reduce the amount of money you are spending at the pharmacy on your medications.

What is so important about these pills anyway?

When looking at your budget and trying to make sure all your bills get paid, it can be tempting to delay picking up a medication or even to stop taking it entirely. Of all places to save money, risking your health by cutting out medications is not the way to do it.

It is important to know your medications well: what do you take daily? What time do you take them? What is each pill for? Knowing the answers to these questions can help you be a better advocate for your own health and be an active participant in the decision-making process when you see your healthcare provider. When you know what medicines you are taking and why, you can be better prepared to ask your provider questions you may have and talk to them about cutting costs with your medications.

How can my health care provider help?

Whether the person prescribing your medications is a physician, physician’s assistant, or nurse practitioner, they may be able to help make your medications cheaper in a few different ways. Ask them for a list of your medications and what each one is for. When it comes to prescribing your medications, some medications that are often used together can be combined into one pill, which can help cut the costs since you will be buying just one medication instead of two separate ones.

Another thing you can bring up with your provider is getting 90-day prescriptions instead of monthly 30-day prescriptions for the medications that you take for your long-term illnesses. The 90-day prescriptions are often cheaper, and so you can often save some money by getting them in bulk. If you have insurance, sometimes you may need to give them a call to be sure that they will cover these 90-day supplies. There may also be mail-order pharmacies that can be cheaper through certain insurances.

If you are having difficulty affording your medications, you can always let your healthcare provider know. It can often be embarrassing to talk about financial issues to others, but your healthcare provider should provide a judgement-free zone where you can have an honest conversation about how to help you get the medications that your body needs.

Getting better deals at the pharmacy

When it comes to choosing a pharmacy to use, be sure to shop around and call to ask the pharmacies how much your medications are with your insurance, or if they have any assistance programs to help with the costs of medications. Some pharmacies offer discounted prices to people with lower income or have a fixed price for certain prescriptions. Knowing where to get the best deals may take some time but can seriously impact your wallet when it comes time to pay.

There are also programs that can help you get your medications cheaper, like the phone applications and websites which can help you get discounts on prescriptions. All you have to do is go to the websites, search for your medication and your zip code, and look for the best deal. Some examples of these programs such as GoodRx, Blink, Optum perks, and WellRx.

Additionally, if you have access to the internet, you can also check the drug manufacturer’s website to see if they have any discount programs. Some medication manufacturers will offer one-time discount coupons or life-long discount cards which can save you extra on drugs you get frequently.

Regardless of how we go about it, keeping costs down is key when it comes to healthcare; so, let’s work together as healthcare workers and patients to make sure you can save money on your medications so that you can use that money to enrich your life instead.

Dr. Reed is a resident physician who sees patients of all ages and provides obstetrical services at Lone Star Family Health Center, a non-profit 501©3 Federally Qualified Health Center operating facilities in Conroe, Spring, Willis, Grangerland, and Huntsville, and serving as home to a fully integrated Family Medicine Residency Program to increase the number of Family Medicine physicians for Texas and our community.