Cheaper meds in ncy? Can't remember what I read

7 years ago

DD was covered under our Kaiser plan until this year, and she recently had to buy some meds on her own. Her plan (from work) doesn't cover drugs without a rider, which is very expensive and not worth it for her. I know there are ways to get around paying list price, but I can't quite remember what they are. She's not anywhere near a Costco, so that's out. (I know they often have the cheapest drugs.) Does anyone have any helpful info on this subject?

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Comments (14)

Bookwoman
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Does she know about the Big Apple Rx discount card? https://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/1198/bigapplerx-free-prescription-discount-card
Elmer J Fudd
7 years ago
Interesting to see a city prescription program of some kind. I wonder how it works.

Costco isn't always the cheapest option. My dog takes a human prescription drug in generic form. At the last refill point, I called the local Costco for a price - it was double what I pay for the same thing at CVS. Not a whole lot of money - $29 instead of $14 and change, but still surprising to me.
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User
7 years ago
I would suggest calling around or looking on line to see what the particular medicine/s cost without insurance. The cost can vary widely within a small area. There are some "clubs" that offer discount coupons but she would have to ask the pharmacy that she uses which ones they accept and how to get it. While I get most of mine by mail order last time I had a cold several years ago the pharmacist was shocked at what the insurance company stated my copay was and provided me a discount card that lowered the cost.
Bookwoman
7 years ago
Elmer, it was a Bloomberg initiative; here's the press release from 2011 about the program: https://www.mikebloomberg.com/news/nyc-launches-1st-official-free-prescription-discount-card-bigapplerx/
graywings123
7 years ago
Double the price - that's significant!
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Is GoodRX available in your area? I've had very good experience with that.

Both the State of Ohio and my county (Franklin) have offered prescription discount cards for quite a few years... the state since 2005. GoodRX has better discounts than either though ( so far for the meds my family has needed) and was much better out of pocket than the pharmacy benefit of my employer provided insurance.
Elmer J Fudd
7 years ago
But how does it work? Is it simply an agreement to apply a greater discount to prescriptions or is there some funding/cost sharing contribution by the city?
Bookwoman
7 years ago
I was able to find this: "The program is run at no cost to the city. HealthTrans provides and distributes the cards, promotes the program, runs the Web site and offers customer service and data reporting. HealthTrans gets an administrative fee for each prescription that is filled using BigAppleRx."
Elmer J Fudd
7 years ago
Hmm. Does that mean not all pharmacies participate? The ones that do pay a fee as a referral fee, so pharmacies choose to participate as a way to get business from this market segment? That's interesting, a bit of the standard internet practice where the click/link source for a selling site is paid a commission or referral fee for the business done.
Bookwoman
7 years ago
The card is "accepted at more than 2,000 NYC pharmacies, including all major chains and nearly all independent pharmacies." I suppose there are some independent ones that don't participate, but there aren't many of those left, alas.
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mdln
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
costco has mail order

https://www.costcohealthsolutions.com/pages/Members_MailOrder.aspx#

Our PharmD often mentions med prices can change daily, or with every shipment.
sjerin
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you all very much! I've passed this info on to her. I've learned something today too.
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
7 years ago
I forgot to mention, that GoodRx will show you all the prices for your particular med/dose/quantity from pharmacies in your area. They even show prices for pharmacies that don't have a GoodRx offer -- for example, for one of my meds, Walmart has the best price even without a GoodRx discount.
sjerin
Original Author
7 years ago
To be honest, I'm a little leery of Good Rx. I'm not sure what they do with your data, etc.... But thanks for the suggestion!

Cheaper meds in ncy? Can't remember what I read

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Cheaper meds in ncy? Can't remember what I read

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