DermHelpCentral

Save Money on Your Medications

I saw a patient today with no drug insurance today who needed a cream for skin lesions. His pharmacy quoted him a price of $297. I had told him about GoodRx and he went to their website. The price there varied between $103 and $214. He wound up getting it for $154 at Walmart.

There are two websites that can help patients without drug coverage save significant sums on generic medications.

We wrote about Good Rx in 2013. The new kid on the block is BlinkHealth.

For more background on these see “Entrepreneurs Pull Back Curtain on Drug Prices” (NY Times, February 9, 2016).

Excerpts:

A few entrepreneurs are aiming to fundamentally change the way people buy drugs, bringing the industry into the digital age by disclosing the lowest prices for generic prescriptions to allow comparison-shopping.

The spotlight on drug prices could not come at a better time for at least two online ventures. One company, GoodRx, collects drug prices at pharmacies around the country and connects consumers to coupons to help them pay. Another, Blink Health, takes the process a step further by allowing customers to pay for their drugs online, then pick up the prescription at nearly any pharmacy.

Many uninsured consumers do not know that the price pharmacies charge them is far higher than the rate that insurers pay the pharmacies for the same drug, health care experts said. And even insured customers are not always getting the best deal. Many people have insurance plans that require them to pay a flat rate of $10 or higher for generic drugs, even though the rate the insurers pay the pharmacy is often less.

Becoming familiar with GoodRx and BlinkHealth can save you, a family member or BFF a considerable amount on generic prescriptions.  If you need a drug that presents a significant expense, it would be wise to check both of these sites for the cheapest price.

Martin Skrell's Amazing Pharmacy

Recently, the 32 years old hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli bought Turing Pharmaceuticals and raised the price of the life-saving drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill.  This ignited a s*** storm in the media; but strangely the same thing has been happening for the past few years with other drugs.  A comic strip in the Sunday, September 27^th NY Times is a great spoof.

National Prescription Services Newwork

There are at least two ways that you can save money on prescriptions if you do not have a drug plan with your insurance.  The first we heard about was GoodRx (which is an excellent service).

The National Prescription Services Newwork issues a free Pharmacy Benefit Card.

So far, it's a bit harder to figure out the NPSN card, but we think that consulting both GoodRx and NPSN will help you to get the best price for the drugs you purchase.  GoodRx tells you the price of medication at a number of local pharmacies, while NPSN guarantees a certain discount but does not tell one the price.  With GoodRx the customer must print out a coupon; while NPSN does not have this requirement.

If you want to save money on prescriptions, please experiment with both services.

Teledermatology Forms

These forms will help you to communicate with the dermatologist, David Elpern, for new problems, existing problems and prescription refill requests.  If you do not have a prescription plan with your medical insurance, you can usually save a significant amount on your medications from GoodRx.

New Patient/New Problem Form

Question about an Existing Problem

Refill Request

If you have specific questions or comments, please contact DJ Elpern.

GoodRx

Prices for prescription drugs vary widely between pharmacies. In the U.S., drug prices are neither fixed nor regulated. The cost of a prescription may differ by more than $100 between two pharmacies across the street from each other!

If you're uninsured, it's easy to get a better price.
While prices for most drugs at pharmacies are very high for the uninsured patient, there are many ways to save 80% or more – coupons, savings tips, pharmacy or manufacturer discounts, cheaper alternative drugs, or just asking for a better price.

If you want to save money on most prescriptions, check out GoodRx.  Their prices may even be lower than your co-pay!

There's a video of how GoodRx works on this page.

Note:  I am not sure how they do this, but it is truly amazing and can save you lots of money.  The fact remains that most pharmacies are giant rip-offs considering that they are not passing along low prices to their customers.

Important:When you get a coupon, you will need to make sure that the number of pills, the strength, the size of a tube, etc. are all correct.  Many pills come in different strengths and may topicals have different sizes and percentage of active ingredient.  Your physician can help you with this or may print a coupon out for you.

You can get a GoodRx card at some medical offices or from the company.  Attached is a card designed by a physician to help his patients.

GoodRx  iPhone App:
When using this, you don't have to print a coupon --

 

 

1. Go to "App Store" ( this is just for iPhone)
2. Go to "Search"
3. Type "GoodRx"
4. Download ( it's free)
5. Enjoy the app!