Health & Fitness
How Do You Get Your Prescription Drugs?
Prescription drug costs are growing. One way we can fight these growing costs is with perscription discount cards.
Prescription drug costs are growing. At the same time, millions of Americans do not have medical insurance, and millions more are underinsured. In addition, seniors face excluded drugs with Medicare. All this adds up to financial strains for many who need help.
One way to combat these factors is with a prescription discount card. Typically, prescription discount cards are backed by a national pharmacy benefits manager. These cards are free and available to anyone. Users only have to give or show the card at a participating pharmacy to get their discount.
If the user already has insurance, they can use this card to get the lower of the insurance based price or the discount card price on their medications. Some of these cards even cover pet medications.
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One card may be used for all members of the person’s family. The card is not insurance, but a substantial discount program that can save those with no coverage or restricted coverage up to 65 percent on prescriptions at more than 56,000 pharmacies nationwide.
Perhaps best of all, these programs are indeed completely free. No personal information is ever asked for or collected, and there is no activation process or waiting period for coverage. Users only have to give or show the card at a participating pharmacy to get their discount.
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Sound too good to be true? I can assure you that it is not. These programs are out there, it’s just a matter of finding them, and using them. Many times they are right in front of us but we fail to take advantage of them.
These cards are typically given out to health care professionals to be distributed to their patients or clients. But you can find them almost anywhere.
Just recently I found one in amongst my junk mail. Right in between the Stop & Shop flyer and the Omaha Steaks’ envelope.
I’m not sure how I got on that list. My brother in Florida sent me meat for Christmas one year now I get flyers from Omaha Steaks once a week.
And yes, I read my junk mail. I know I’m wasting my time reading junk mail but I just can’t help myself. Like that hopeless romantic who keeps attending speed dating events looking for that special person in amongst the throngs of losers who can’t get a date the conventional way, I am always hopeful that there might be something good inside. And maybe this card is it.
So here are three different prescription discount cards that I have come across in the last few months:
They all claim to be free, no obligation savings cards. As I am not taking any medications that would be covered under these plans I have not had to use one of these cards yet. But I know that will eventually change.
So if anyone tries one of these cards I hope you will share your experience with us here at Patch. All it takes is a few minutes of time to go on the website, download the card and take it with you to the pharmacy.
It is easy to get a thousand prescriptions but hard to get one single remedy. ~Chinese Proverb
Disclosure: Anthony D`Amico is the owner of Always Best Care of Central Suffolk, a provider of senior care needs.
