How Does a Prescription Discount Card Work to Lower Medication Costs?

Medicine is one of those expenses you usually can’t put off. But the cost of prescriptions can make you feel sicker than when you first walked into the pharmacy.

According to a recent poll from the Kaiser Family Foundationabout 26% of Americans say they have difficulty paying for their prescriptions. The cost keeps some from taking their prescriptions as directed — cutting pills in half or skipping doses to make their supply stretch. Others simply don’t fill their prescriptions, or they try to replace them with cheaper, over-the-counter drugs.

This is bad, very bad. But you don’t have to settle for high prices at the pharmacy you’ve been going to for ages. Comparison shopping with a prescription discount card can help you save money on the medicine you need.

“We shop around for televisions, we shop around for cars, but we don’t really think to shop around for prescription medications,” said Tori Marsh, director of research at GoodRxa leading prescription discount card provider.

How Do Prescription Discount Cards Work?

Prices for medications can vary widely from one pharmacy to the next. GoodRx — and discounters like it — show you a comparison of your medication’s cost at several nearby pharmacies. These companies also negotiate lower prices to benefit consumers.

“[It’s] in the pharmacies’ best interest because we help get people in the door,” Marsh said. “Pharmacists notice a lot of the time that people leave the pharmacy counter just simply because they can’t afford their medication.”

Generally, prescription discount cards work like this:

1. You search for your drug in your local area via the prescription discount company’s website or mobile app.
2. Use the price comparison to select which pharmacy you want to fill your prescription. You can do this on your smartphone before leaving your doctor’s office.
3. Print out the discount card or coupon or show the discount code to the pharmacist using the mobile…