Due to a serious illness, I developed allergy/reactions to various medications, especially prescription drugs. This was costing me a small fortune, as I would fill a script and after 1 or 2 pills have to dispose of the rest because I could not tolerate them. We have no insurance so all scripts were paid in full by us.
My pharmacist finally told me that I could request a partial fill of a couple of pills and if they worked, get the rest and if not cancel the script! This tip has saved me hundreds of dollars. Now I always ask for a partial when getting a new drug script filled.
By PlumCottage from the beach in NJ
This page contains the following solutions.
With the economy these days prescription costs are just one more thing people worry about. Did you know that you can pay a reasonable price on many of the most needed medications if you just do your homework?
To get some bang for your expensive prescription bucks, you may want to transfer some prescriptions to your local Kmart. They are having a special offer right now in which you can receive up to four $25 gift cards between now and April 10, 2010.
Individual companies quietly give away millions of dollars in medication every year. If you or a family member simply cannot pay for much needed medicine, call the manufacturer directly.
Save some money and get well! Tell your physician to prescribe older medications or generic.
I work in a pharmacy and find there are several ways to save money on prescriptions that many of our patients are not aware of.
When I get single OTC pills through freebie offers (such as Zyrtec, Prilosec, etc.) I save them to put in a special "medical" pouch in my purse for emergencies. Ditto for single applications of SPF lotion.
To help you save money on your prescriptions while your at your doctors office ask the doctor if he has samples of the medication you need. Almost all doctors have tons of samples given to them by drug suppliers.
Pharmacies are constantly competing for new business and often have coupons offering a $10 or $25 store gift card for filling new prescriptions or transferring a prescription to their pharmacy.
Check your prescription medications to see if they qualify for the "split a pill" program. The program identifies medications that you can take in 1/2 pill form and be safe knowing you are getting a correct dosage.
Any time my husband or I are started on a new prescription that will have to be repeated over and over I take a few minutes to call via the phone to check prices.
If you take particular medications regularly, compare prices with different pharmacies. Call each of them and let them know each medication you take; the name of the drug, the dosage, and the amount your prescription calls for; and ask what their price is.
Patient Assistance Programs. You can get lots of medicines free! Go to Patient Assistance Programs and put in the name of your medicine.
Consider having your doctor prescribe pills in a strength you can cut in half (not all meds are suitable for this). If you do this, buy a pill cutter for a few dollars at the drug store.
One of our readers shares her experience with shopping around for prescription drugs and her savings as a result! Click on the link above to read.
Many people are entitled to benefits that they do not know about. In Massachusetts, there is a program to help offset the cost of medication not covered by Medicare.
There is a website that allows you to print a coupon that can be used over and over for discounts on your prescription drugs. Most major pharmacies accept it, like Publix, Walgreens, WalMart, Target, Savon etc. Go to SuperRxcard.com
Make sure to take advantage of pharmacy offers to give gift cards if you'll transfer prescriptions. I recently transferred a medicine and received a $20 gift card...
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Does anyone have any experience on buying prescription medications mail order from Canada?
Mizliz81 from Dickson, TN
Go to www.suddenlysenior.com and you can get much info from this site. The man who is responsible for it buys his from Canada all the time, and he has sponsors from whom you can get info on pricing etc.
i heard on the news the other day (8-1-2006) that U.S. customs is stopping shipments of Canadian prescriptions and seizing them. They are also stopping people coming across the border with their prescriptions. Although Canadian prescriptions are a lot less expensive, they are not if you cannot receive them or bring them into the country.
My husband buys his RX's from Canada and never has a problem, saves him money too.You do need a script from your DR.
Cheaper and faster than Canada, go to progressiveRX.com and check them out. I have many very expensive Rx's and have no problems getting my meds . They are about 1/4 of the cost in the states and I have used this site for over a year.
I have bought my prescriptions for years from Canada, as I live just 50 miles south of the Orovile border. Never had a problem. You pay a $7 refill for each bottle (besides their cost) , and $50 for the canadian doctor to write prescriptions. I started buying my prescriptions from Costco on-line from their Lynnwood store.
I have bought my zyrtec allergy medicine which is available without a script. canadian version is reactine instead of zyrtec. available from canadapharmacy dot com. dealt with them for several years. I was paying $10 a pop to get them shipped. 90 days is $29. About 1 1/2 years ago I saw on their website a lifetime shipping fee of $50, I don't know if they still offer it , but mine has paid for itself many many times over since I opted to pay the $50 fee. It's been a godsend to me.
I want to tell you about a website I read about in the AARP called InternetDrugCoupons.com. It is a database of more than 300 drug coupons and freebies for people and pets.
We've had inquiries about our help with prescriptions programs. We don't have one at ThriftyFun but had posted a tip from one of our readers about one at Merck Medco.
Link: https://medicineassistancetool.org
This page is about getting help paying for prescription drugs. There are assistance programs available to help you reduce the cost of prescriptions.
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
Even with a prescription plan, prescription medicines can be expensive. Here are some tips from the ThriftyFun community about saving money on prescriptions.
Even with a prescription plan, prescription medicines can be expensive. It's hard to save money on something that is controlled by insurance.
