Health Issues Website that can help reduce prescription cost.

beancounter

beancounter

The Fire That Burns Within
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Unlike traditional health insurance plans where you pay a $10-25 copay for prescriptions, my new health plan makes you pay a significant portion of the retail price, ...which is way too much.

So I did a web search and found "GoodRx." I'm not sure how they do it. but you can get prescriptions for a much lower price at you local pharmacy simply by showing them a printout.

http://www.goodrx.com/

There is no cost for this, and you don't have to sign up. At first, I thought it was a gimmick, but it's legit.

I used it this morning at Walgreens, and didn't encounter any problems or push back from the pharmacist.

The process is straight forward. You search for the medication and then for your pharmacy, and then it will generate a page that you print out.

The final price you get depends on the drug type and the pharamacy, but to give you an idea... the retail price of my prescription is $460. Through my insurance it would be $159, but by using this service, I ended up paying $72.
 
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beancounter said:
Unlike traditional health insurance plans where you pay a $10-25 copay for prescriptions, my new health plan makes you pay a significant portion of the retail price, ...which is way too much.

So I did a web search and found "GoodRx." I'm not sure how they do it. but you can get prescriptions for a much lower price at you local pharmacy simply by showing them a printout.

http://www.goodrx.com/

There is no cost for this, and you don't have to sign up. At first, I thought it was a gimmick, but it's legit.

I used it this morning at Walgreens, and didn't encounter any problems or push back from the pharmacist.

The process is straight forward. You search for the medication and then for your pharmacy, and then it will generate a page that you print out.

The final price you get depends on the drug type and the pharamacy, but to give you an idea... the retail price of my prescription is $460. Through my insurance it would be $159, but by using this service, I ended up paying $72.
Click to expand...

Do you have to pay for a prescription even if you have health insurance ?
 
shyvas said:
Do you have to pay for a prescription even if you have health insurance ?
Click to expand...
It depends upon your insurance plan. There is a dizzying array of different coverages. My plan pays for so-called maintenance meds for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc. For other meds there is a small charge, 5 or 10$ unless it's something specialty.
 
ledboots said:
It depends upon your insurance plan. There is a dizzying array of different coverages. My plan pays for so-called maintenance meds for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc. For other meds there is a small charge, 5 or 10$ unless it's something specialty.
Click to expand...

I remember discussing US health insurance plans in another thread with you. It seems that the US system is far more complicated than European health plans.

I pay € 1 for every consultation and my prescriptions are free. However my health insurance plan is very expensive and furthermore it is my firm that chooses the insurance company.
 
Thanks for this Beancounter. I checked it out and it seems legit. I will definitely be using it in the future.
 
shyvas said:
Do you have to pay for a prescription even if you have health insurance ?
Click to expand...

Don't get me started... I both work for and covered by my employer which is the largest health insurance provider in the county.

Under the plan, they allocate a bucket of dollars which is used to cover the deductible for each doctors visit and prescription. So they give everyone $800, which at todays current rates is only enough for about 4 doctor visits. After that im resposible for 100 percent of medocal charges up to $3200
 
beancounter said:
Don't get me started... I both work for and covered by my employer which is the largest health insurance provider in the county.

Under the plan, they allocate a bucket of dollars which is used to cover the deductible for each doctors visit and prescription. So they give everyone $800, which at todays current rates is only enough for about 4 doctor visits. After that im resposible for 100 percent of medocal charges up to $3200
Click to expand...

It was such a simple question.
 
I was recently switched to a new health plan and if my prescription is on the formulary, it's covered, otherwise I have to pay full price. Unfortunately, there are very few medications on the formulary, and only one of the prescriptions I take is on there. I've had to switch all the others to an inferior drug that is covered.

Many, many years ago when I worked for a health insurance company, I had excellent benefits. My premium was only about $35.00 a month for me and my daughter, and that included dental and optical. And if you were married and already getting benefits from your partners plan, they actually gave you a credit on your check every month. The other places I worked after that either didn't offer health insurance, or the premiums were insane. At Kmart, I think it was a couple of hundred a month just for me, and around 4-500 for both me and my daughter which was almost half my paycheck. And that was for the cheapest plan they offered at the worst HMO there is.
 
shyvas said:
OK. Go ahead. :p
Click to expand...

I realized that I didn't answer your question correctly.

My prescription is "covered" but I have to pay a substantial portion of the price (in my case approx. 35% of retail), which is considered part of the deductable. Wheras in my old company I was only responsible for a co-pay of $10 for that prescription. So my out of pocket costs have increased by 16x under this new plan. So, yea, the first $800 in medical expenses are "free"(via the 'bucket of dollars they allocate to us), but for a family of three that really only covers 3 doctor visits, and one 90 prescription. Any other visits or prescriptions are 100% out of pocket...also my old company provided us with a $1,750 bucket, so the new company is contrubting less than half of what this one is.
 
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