3 Tips to Save Money on Prescriptions with GoodRX

Prescription drug costs are outrageous these days. You head to your local pharmacy to fill a prescription — and before you know it, you’ve spent half your paycheck, signed over rights to your home and your firstborn child.

But today, I want to talk about a game-changing service called GoodRX, and three tips to help you save the most money possible when filling your next prescription.

What’s GoodRX anyway?

The soaring prices of prescription medications are enough to make your stomach turn. If only there were someone to help hold these pharmaceutical companies accountable for the price tags they slap on their meds…

Enter GoodRX. The service, founded in 2011, is a website and mobile app which helps customers track and compare the cost of medications in over 75,000 pharmacies across the United States.

As a physician, I have been able to share the service with many patients who all agree — GoodRX really does save you money. I can tell you, as a patient myself, I’ve found that the ability to comparison shop and save money on my own prescriptions has been invaluable. Over 250,000 physicians have helped people save over $2 billion on prescription medications by choosing to use GoodRX. My own family has been able to cut prescription costs by several hundred dollars each year.

The Best Part: you don’t pay anything to use GoodRX. The service lets you search their database to find the lowest prices on the medications you need most. And with a mobile app, you can even search while you’re on the go. You can sign up for a free account right here.

So, with that in mind, I want to share three tips that can help you get the very best prices the next time you head to the pharmacy to fill a prescription.

Tip #1: Always comparison shop

Yes, GoodRX can help you save big money when shopping around for your prescriptions. But you do have to put in the work to find the very best price.

Maybe your favorite pharmacy isn’t always the cheapest. The funny thing about prescription medications is… The prices often fluctuate with no rhyme or reason. Just because you’ve found that you save money at one pharmacy today, doesn’t mean you always save money at that pharmacy the next time you need to fill a prescription.

Tip #2: Take advantage of discounts

Whether it’s a discount, a coupon or an honest price from GoodRX, do your homework to lock in the lowest price.

GoodRX will help you load up a coupon to take it to your pharmacy when the service is able to locate a deal for you. Sometimes, however, GoodRX will tell you that a pharmacy’s own membership option has the lowest price available. This transparency gives you the best price — every time.

Tip #3: Remember that insurance isn’t always the best deal around

We are a cash-pay family practice clinic, so we have a few words on how you can save money by skipping on insurance… But we’ll save that conversation for another day.

The Fact Is: your insurance company may not be able to offer you the lowest price on a prescription you are filling. Whether or not you have rock star insurance, it’s always a good idea to check GoodRX before heading to the pharmacy. In many cases, you’ll find that your insurance provider simply can’t come close to the deals and discounts you’ll find available through the service. Besides, you have nothing to lose by doing a quick search.

Saving money on your prescription medications

The next time you have a prescription to fill, I encourage you to take a minute to search GoodRX to see which pharmacy has the lowest price available. With prescription medication prices on the rise, there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain when shopping around.

GoodRX is one of the best kept secrets that I think everyone should know about. The service allows us, the consumers, to combat the pharmaceutical companies who have charged exceedingly high prices for far too long.

You Tell Us: have you used GoodRX in the past? If so, what did you think? Did you save money on your medications? Take a minute to let us know in the comments below.