Save on Prescription Drugs

I am Kevin McCormaly of Kiplingers and I am here with Janet Bodner, the deputy editor of Kiplingers Personal Finance Magazine to talk about how to hold down the cost of prescription drugs. Janet, you know these days, a lot of people have sticker shock at the pharmacy when they see what they have to pay. What can people do to hold down the cost of the drugs they need?

One word, Kevin and that is generics! Now, generics have been around for a long time, but more and more name brand drugs are going off patent, so there are more generic drugs available nowadays.

Now what if my drug is not generic?

What you should do is consult with your doctor and see if there is another drug within the same category that is available. There are generics available for the most common medical conditions. For example, allergies, depression, high cholesterol and that sort of thing.

Will my insurance coverage pay as much for the generic?

They will probably pay more for the generic just to encourage you to use generic drugs. For example, if you have to pay a co-payment for your drug, you may have to pay as much as $40.00 if you want a name brand drug, but if you get the generic equivalent, you may only have to pay $10.00.

Okay, I have been in some stores and I have seen signs that say $4.00 drugs. What is that about?

Wal-Mart started his ball rolling a couple of years ago by offering people 30-day supplies of generic drugs for just $4.00 which is really a very good deal and now other Wal-Mart competitors like Target for example have jumped on the bandwagon and literally hundreds of generics are available for $4.00.

Any other ideas on how to save?

Well, one thing you can do is, if your employer offers this or your insurer offers this and most employers do, you can participate in a mail order program if you have some sort of long term condition. What happens with this is you can order a three month supply of the drug instead of a one-month supply, but only pay two co-payments so it is a little more convenient and it costs you less.

What about buying drugs from Canada?

Well, we do not recommend that, Kevin. For one thing, buying drugs from any country is illegal unless you buy drugs in person from Canada. It is also illegal to buy drugs even from Canada on the internet and that is because you may be sold tainted or weak medications. And there are just so many other safe and legal ways to do it that you should just stick with those.

Okay, Janet, thank you.