Ipsey Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Husband lost job and good insurance. :( So, now we're paying for my little's methylphenidate script out of pocket. It's Expensive! Dang! Funny thing, with hubby out of work, we scarcely have the money to actually afford it now. Imagine. I see drug coupons online. Does anyone use these? Do they actually work? Do you know how I can find the best ones? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 The only good ones are for the brand name medication at the manufacturers web site. Don't bother with ones that say "save 70% off...." at general websites. Call around for the best prices. Walmart and Costco are usually cheapest. If you take it into a local pharmacy to be filled, ask if they have a discount program they can apply to the prescription. I work in pharmacy and add a discount to any script I see with no insurance. I know some pharmacy techs only do it if asked by the customer. To me the action falls under the 'do unto others' principle of life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Also.....get on the state insurance website/Obama care ASAP. Sometimes they backdate effective dates for new people to the date they applied, not the date they were approved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ipsey Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 Also.....get on the state insurance website/Obama care ASAP. Sometimes they backdate effective dates for new people to the date they applied, not the date they were approved. We're already covered with Obamacare, but the only one we could afford didn't cover prescriptions. We're basically just covering ourselves to avoid catastrophe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ipsey Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 The only good ones are for the brand name medication at the manufacturers web site. Don't bother with ones that say "save 70% off...." at general websites. Call around for the best prices. Walmart and Costco are usually cheapest. If you take it into a local pharmacy to be filled, ask if they have a discount program they can apply to the prescription. I work in pharmacy and add a discount to any script I see with no insurance. I know some pharmacy techs only do it if asked by the customer. To me the action falls under the 'do unto others' principle of life. I'll try this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 I don't know how to obtain one but I have seen little cards that say "use this on all prescriptions" to instantly discount them. I used one in Wal-Mart just fine one day (in addition to my insurance) but the next time I went they gave me flack about it and basically told me it wouldn't bring the price down much because that particular item was so cheap. I gave up with the woman but I really wanted to say, "Yeah, well try it, anyway." I think she was just trying to usher me out of her line. :glare: I don't think CVS would let me use it. Those types of discount cards are really hit and miss on the savings. I have seen them save anything from $0-50+ . If it happens again, just tell the person something similar to "I appreciate that you are really going out of your way for me. I am happy step aside so you can finish the line and to wait while you try". Go walk around and be prepared to wait for 15 minutes to them to rerun the claim (without staring them down-people staring at us while we work tends to make us less friendly toward them). LOL The best time to ask for discounts is when you are dropping off the prescription. It often takes us just as long to play with discount cards and rebill, as it does to fill the prescription in the first place, so rebiling essentially doubles the time each prescription takes to fill. But, we do it all day and as long as you are willing to step aside and let the line continue on ahead of you, they shouldn't give you attitude about it. Some pharmacies really don't accept the different plans. We accept 2. Our own plan and another that I actually prefer because it saves the customer more money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 The lady that was talking to me at WM is not the one that has to run the card. She hands it off to another woman that was off to the side in a little room at a desk. I did not drop off a prescription because the dr office called it in. I think she was trying to make me feel petty for wanting to run a discount card on a purchase that was so cheap to begin with. Oh, I see. Yep, Walmart isn't the place to go for customer service, but if you have to pay out of pocket, without insurance, they are one of the cheapest around. If it was already really cheap, she may have known that it was really a waste of time. For instance discount cards won't drop a price below the cost of the medication. If I know the cost is within a dollar of the price on the receipt already, it isn't going to do any good to go through the extra steps. Walmart also has it's $4 list. If it was one of those, it could have already been the cheapest it was going to get. Many of those scripts are actually sold below cost to draw customers in. A discount card could have raised the price. Do realize thought that if you ask them to rebill the claim, you could be put back in line behind others that they have already been working on. Since you said Walmart....in our area, that would mean to expect a 30 minute turn around for rebills. They are incredibly busy around here, and wait times are high. That is why they are cheap low staffing/high output. Pharmacy often doesn't look as busy as we actually are because we stand in one spot and do data entry that is coming though on our computer all day. If the doctors office calls it in, just call the pharmacy and let them know you would like them to add the discount if practical for that prescription. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 I handed her both cards together (insurance and discount card), but they only ran one. So it wasn't like I was like "oh wait, I have this in my purse." Oh well. I think you are right about the price point. I just couldn't tell if she was saying, "it won't get discounted more" to get me out of her line or if she really knew that. It was hard to tell if she was being sincere. She also seemed to want me to check out in the front of the store, rather than her line so I think I just set the prescription in the cart and finished shopping. If you had insurance, then it was probably cheapest that way anyways. There are only a few times that we bother rebillng insurance claims for a discount card. For instance: If the insurance charges the customer a $10 copay for a med that is super cheap and may come out less on our discount card (only a dozen meds or so out of the 1000+ we stock. Or if the person is on a medication that would be cheaper to get a 90 days supply. For instance at Walmart a medication like hctz maybe $12 for a 90 day supply but the same script would cost that person $30 on their particular insurance plan (10/month for 3 months). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest inoubliable Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Sorry to hear about the news. :( No advice except to suggest calling manufactures for coupons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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