You may be surprised at how many ways you can potentially save money on prescription drugs these days. Let’s look at popular approaches to reducing medication costs and how to make the most of those savings strategies. That includes learning how to use price monitoring apps and websites to compare drug prices among all the pharmacies near you, using prescription discount cards, and finding applicable coupons. It also involves taking advantage of mail-order benefits, seeking generic alternatives, and other methods of saving on your prescription drug costs.

Prescription Drug Discount Programs

You may be surprised at how effective it can be to make a strong effort to cut your prescription drug costs. As you start your mission to reduce the total cost of your medications, set out to do more than reduce the cost in the most convenient way that presents itself early in the process. Instead, look to minimize the cost.

Comparing prices by shopping around at different pharmacies can be laborious and time-consuming. So, here are some popular options for helping lower your prescription drug prices online, through your doctor’s office, at your pharmacy, or by using discount programs, comparing prices, and using mail-order services.

Drug Price Tracking Apps

Drug price monitoring apps like RxSaver enable users to compare prices across their local pharmacies. The apps can be set to send you automated notifications of price drops on the prescription medications you’re tracking.

Drug Price Comparison Tool

Prescription drug price tracking tools such as PharmacyChecker identify safe, reliable online pharmacy sites that sell medications and compare these healthcare products to produce price comparison data for site users.

Drug Savings Cards

Savings card issuers like SingleCare, WebMDRx, GoodRx, and NeedyMeds for prescription drugs have negotiated reduced drug prices with regional and national pharmacy chains. With a drug discount card of this kind, users may save a significant amount of money on many prescriptions (over 80% on some drugs).

Drug Discount Programs

With drug discount programs provided by GoodRx, SingleCare, WellRx, and other free mobile apps, you can save coupons to your phone, print them, or access them at store checkouts with your discount card. Savings can yield costs lower than your copay on some medications.

Patient Assistance Programs

PAPs offered by pharmaceutical suppliers in the US help uninsured, underinsured, and low-income people who have high needs for prescriptions obtain medications free or at reduced costs. Applications can usually be found through the drug manufacturer’s website.

Government Discount Programs

Federal prescription discount programs include Medicare Extra Help for Medicare patients who have Part D. You can call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) or visit medicare.gov for details about this program.

State Pharmaceutical Assistance Program

This is an online database featuring a search tool to identify assistance programs funded by your state of residence. Search online for websites featuring information on the SPAP program in your state.

Medicine Assistance Tool

This is an online database with a search tool you can use to identify private and public prescription drug assistance programs. If affordability is an issue, use this resource to find a program for which you may qualify.

Mail-Order Pharmacies

Even without health insurance, at online pharmacies like Amazon Pharmacy, Honeybee, DiRx, or others, you can set up delivery of prescriptions. These services have lower overhead costs than brick-and-mortar pharmacies, so they can often offer more competitive prices.

Home Prescription Delivery If you have OptumRx or Express Scripts®, for example, or another pharmacy service as a health insurance benefit, you can avoid pharmacy trips and potentially save money by ordering up to a 90-day supply with free standard shipping.

Insurance Network Pharmacies

Look for pharmacies that are included in your health insurance provider’s network to avoid paying retail prices for your prescription medications. Search for network pharmacies in your plan member information system.

90-Day Prescriptions

Ask your doctor if a generic version of the drug you need can be substituted for the more expensive brand-name medicine. Also, ask her or him to change the prescription to a 90-day supply (instead of the usual 30-day prescription amount) to qualify for a bulk discount, if applicable.

Generic Substitutes for Name-Brand Drugs

The average copay in the US for brand-name drugs is around $54, per the Association for Accessible Medicines. By stark contrast, the average copay for generic alternatives is only around $6. The generics typically contain the same active ingredients as the higher-priced version.

Other Forms of the Same Drug

If your medication is in pill form, ask your doctor or pharmacist about switching to a capsule, for example, that is less expensive. In some cases, you may be able to save a significant amount by making this change.

Contact Medicare

Ask a Medicare service representative to help you with other possible approaches to managing your prescription and over-the-counter drug costs (medicare.gov). Ask for guidance in finding the best information to compare Medicare Advantage plans and their accompanying prescription drug coverage plans.

Do You Qualify for Medicaid?

You may assume that you don’t qualify for Medicaid, but if you’re having difficulty covering the alarmingly high cost of newly prescribed medication copayments, it might be time to look into the Medicaid option. You can contact the Medicaid office in your state to inquire about your potential eligibility for this health insurance.

Health Insurance Co-Pay Options

If you are on costly prescriptions for health maintenance due to a chronic health condition, if it otherwise makes sense for you with all your health factors considered, you might opt to shop for a health insurance plan that offers a more financially preferable prescription co-pay rate and cost cap.

Consumer Reports

In addition to searching pricing data for online and in-store sales of prescription drugs, you may want to gain a deeper understanding of drug quality and pricing trends. Read data reports published by reputable sources, such as consumerreports.org, the Better Business Bureau, and government agencies like the NIH, ASPE, and Department of Labor, etc.

Talk to Your Healthcare Provider

Your doctor is your most reliable resource for strategies to save costs on medical procedures and medications. If you have been prescribed a drug that is too expensive, ask your doctor if it is possible to get the equivalent results from a generic version of the medication or another alternative.

Further, if you have not received a complete review of your medications from your doctor recently, ask for that review to see what changes may be made to your prescriptions at this time, possibly including eliminating one or more drugs you’re taking from your routine and budget.

To Get Started Saving on Your Prescription Drugs

Choose the approaches from the above list of resources that seem most promising to you and make the necessary calls, or select and fill out inquiries or online applications for prescription drug savings programs. At a minimum, talk with your doctor about generic substitutes for high-cost drugs.

Further, you should compare mail-order pharmacy costs with your local store’s drug prices, and sign up for prescription price tracking updates online, so you can ensure you’re paying the lowest current cost for your medications. It’s also recommended that you contact the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan information line provided to see what help may be available to help you manage your medication costs.

You may decide to go back through the entire list of resources above to pursue additional savings through programs that might be available to you. Or, you may want to use some of those listed as information sources to educate yourself more on the current prescription drug pricing environment and how it affects your healthcare costs.