Script was cheaper without health insurance, never again!

[SL6827]

Currently I don't have any health insurance due to leaving my job, but will be getting on my husband's plan this week. So today I went ahead and filled his blood pressure pills without any coverage at all, and it was $2 less without the insurance. Never again. CVS knew it would be cheaper to fill it without the coverage but never said a word.

I will make sure and call them out on it next time, as to fill it without coverage. That is total BS!

 

[Sadie22]

Prescription prices can vary from time to time and from provider to provider. They were not necessarily cheating you. There are some providers which provide certain drugs at a set price to anyone. It's worth researching that.

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

This is much more common than most people realize. Particularly if you have a prescribed med that is not covered by insurance, it pays to shop around for the best cash price.

 

[Dakota731]

Walmart has a bunch of prescriptions for $4 which turned out to be a lot cheaper than using my insurance plan. I just had to learn to call around before filling my script.

 

[jo-jo]

I had a script that going thru mail order with insurance for 90 days was$178. If I did it month by month at local store (still with insurance) it's $18 a month or $54 for the same 90 days. We had assumed all scripts thru the mail order would be cheaper. That's how it's presented.

 

[tvguy]

My insurance used to have a $20 co-pay for prescriptions. Since the FULL retail price for a 90 day supply of my blood pressure medicine is $2.99, I bought it locally.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Yes-being an educated consumer when it comes to prescription drugs is a winning proposition.

If you think the co-pay or price is too high, call around. We use goodrx.com to get price estimates. Also type the name of the drug into google and try to find a coupon to help with costs. I've done that while standing at the pharmacy counter. Our Kroger even encourages it.

Cash price is often cheaper than insurance price.

 

[AquamarineSteph]

I went to the travel clinic last year. While there, they gave me a prescription for a common antibiotic to take along with me on my trip. The nurse practitioner told me to take it to Publix which offers a long list of common medicines which you can fill for free. She specifically told me not to give them my insurance information, because then they might have to charge me the insurance company's standard copay for the drug when they ran it through the computer.

Even new, brand name drugs often come with manufacturer discounts. Sometimes it's just a matter of doing a little online research and checking with your doctor, pharmacy & insurance company. It's a lot of extra work for you, and often you have no way of knowing this when you pick up that first prescription because of the medical urgency to start taking the medicine. But after that, if the copay is a lot, it helps to research your options.

 

[kymom99]

I used good rx for my son's acne cream. It more than doubled in price and when I asked the dermatologist if there was something else he could use she got a little irritated with me. I heard about goodrx and it saved me a lot of money. the only thing is, my prescriptions count towards my deductible and if you use something like that, it doesn't go through your insurance and therefore doesn't count. The Kroger I use made sure I was aware of that. But since I never come close to meeting my deductible its a non-issue.

 

[Alesia]

If there's only a $2 difference, I'd much rather go through insurance and have the money I'm paying go toward my deductible.

 

[dreiwhit]

Check with Costco. They have member and non-member prices on prescription drugs.

My wife and I both take maintenance meds that the insurance company only wanted to give us 1 90 day supply a year. We could get them to provide more, but it would have required the doctor to fill out forms and work with the insurance company. Of course the doctors wanted to charge us for this. We got prices for meds from Costco, and just fill those two meds there. A 90 day supply of my generic meds is $14 and change.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

I have learned to ask my pharmacist about pricing. If I can get my 90 day supply for $10 or less great, if not, I ask them to run it without my insurance to see which is cheaper. They are awesome about doing this.

FYI, I use CVS inside my Target. I have been with Target Pharmacy for years.

 

[SL6827]

If there's only a $2 difference, I'd much rather go through insurance and have the money I'm paying go toward my deductible.

That didn't go through any deductible at all.

 

[supersnoop]

That didn't go through any deductible at all.

On my health insurance plan, prescriptions are part of the deductible. If I had already hit the deductible, the entire prescription cost would be covered. So, if it's near the start of the year or if you are close to hitting your deductible, it might be smart to spend the extra $2. On the other hand, if it's late in the year or you aren't anywhere near hitting the deductible, then saving $2 is probably smarter.

 

[Jimsig]

Check with Costco. They have member and non-member prices on prescription drugs.

Also some states don't allow Costco (and others) to have separate pricing when it comes to prescriptions so you might not even need a COSTCO membership to use the pharmacy as they have to sell to everybody.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I've had this happen a few times but the pharmacy has always told me and didn't run it through my insurance. i don't have a deductible on my insurance.

 

[Owlpost23]

Look online for coupons,tone of mine was 110.00-with the coupon it ended up being 67.00.Can't hurt to look!

 

[Still_N_Charge]

Just yesterday I used the prescription discount card from singlecare. My Rx cash price was 236 dollars and change, but with the card it was 56.44.

 

[blondietink]

I have no prescription coverage, so my pharmacy calls me a cash customer. Costs me less for my stomach medicine paying cash than the copay was when I did have insurance. Go figure.

 

[Albort]

my diabetic pill cost around $300 without insurance, $250 with insurance. manufacturer helps cover another $50 for the first month only. (1 month supply)
Went overseas, got 3 months supply for $100.

:\ :/