First, a reminder that Freebies 4 Mom is a positive place for sharing things that may help your family save money. My job is to pass along resources to you. It is your job to decide if those resources may be useful for your family, and I trust that you will use your knowledge to make the best decision. I encourage you to comment on my posts, but please keep those comments positive and your criticism constructive.
This is a place to share and I love it when my readers share with me how they are saving money. Obviously you can save money by finding effective and less expensive alternatives to prescription drugs. Amy is doing just that and is kind enough to share her personal success on "Going Without Prescription Coverage: A Self-Discovery". Now, moving on to hear about what my readers are telling me about how they are saving money on prescription drugs.
Free prescription drugs? Did you know that some supermarket/drugstore chains have started offering this free public service recently?
Noelle inspired me to start writing this post, she wrote this:
"I am a mom of 2mo twins and three year old! I love Freebies 4 Mom and check the site EVERY day and enjoy getting fun stuff in the mail that benefits my family. THANK YOU! I live in Florida and Publix supermarkets offers free antibiotics at any time. I just got my free amoxicillin for my daughters ear infection! I was thrilled. I just handed them my RX, they did not ask for any insurance card and they handed me the medicine. They offer many different kinds of antibiotics for free. Now that is a great freebie!" -Noelle
Allison also wrote me about Meijer offering free prenatal vitamins for soon-to-be moms and free antibiotics in all of its 181 pharmacies.
"Meijer Stores are now offering free prenatal vitamins (similar to free antibiotic programs)! I thought this might be a good freebie to pass along to your readers-I know I'm going to hit it up! Love your website." -Allison
DeAnn also wrote me about Top Foods (and Haggen) are offering free prenatal vitamins and fluoride for kids.
"Top Foods grocery stores (Kroger owned) are offering free prenatal vitamins (if you bring in your prescription to their pharmacy) and also Fluoride drops or tablets (it wasn’t clear to me which one) for kids (I think this one needs a prescription, too, but I’m not positive about that)." -DeAnn
Thank you to my readers for sharing these free offers with me! Well, we don't all have a Publix, Meijer, or Top Foods near us to take advantage of these offers - but there are other ways to save money on your prescription medications.
Here are some general tips:
* Save all coupons in your wallet for Rx transfer offers for gift cards so you can use them if you are willing to try a different pharmacy in your area
* Ask about your pharmacy's price-matching policy, I've heard that CVS will match those $4 Walmart Rx (I see Kroger is also advertising $4 Rx to compete with Walmart)
* Talk to your doctor and pharmacist about generic alternatives
* If your Rx is not generic, visit the company's website to see if there are any rebate programs available
There is an excellent article on MomAdvice called "The Prescription Lowdown" that is a great resource that Amy put together based on her own experience of going without prescription drug coverage.
How are you saving money on your Rx purchases? Please share by posting a comment.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Saving $$$ on Rx
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18 comments:
Haggen Food and Pharmacy offers Free Prenatal vitamins and Free Fluoride tablets whether you have insurance or not.
I LOVE your blog (I check it everyday!). Keep up the good work and don't let negative people get you down.
love your site! i just scored a $25 cvs card for transferring a 'scrip-that was fun!
Thanks for the update, Fox_Dawson! I just added Haggen - the promotion is the same as Top Foods.
Thanks for the encouragement, Samantha. I like to remind people to keep things positive!
Wow. I just paid $65 last week for my daughter's antibiotics for an ear infection. Had I known Publix did this I would have saved a fortune. What a great tip for the future!!!! Thanks for sharing!
Many times, almost always, if you go to the website of the medication you ur co-paytake you can get coupons that are equal to or more than your co-pay. Sometimes you can get a free month!
Always ask your MD if they have coupons. Sometimes drug reps give them coupons for a free month!
I'm about to start going to multiple pharmacies. One near us offers generics for $4. Less than our co-pay. But it isn't the closest pharmacy, so the rest will probably stay at our closest pharmacy. It think we pay $300-$400 per month on Rx! and that is with insurance!
Thank you so much for mentioning the site, Heather. I did get some comments that people thought I might be encouraging others to go off their meds. I hope everyone understands that each person is unique and while I was able to make this work for me, that it doesn't work for everyone. My depression was mild enough that I could choose alternative medications, but I encourage each person to work with their physician to find a good balance for them!!
Great post!
I'm glad to share, Amy. We can all learn from each other's experiences! Knowledge equips us with better ways to manage our money.
One of the ways I've been able to save on prescriptions is to split pills. Not all pills can be split, so check with your doctor or pharmacist before doing it.
Essentially, I'm able to get two months of pills from one co-pay. And I get the generic versions as much as possible.
One other thing... don't forget to check Walmart and Target's $4 prescription lists... My husband's grandfather says it's cheaper for him to get the $4 prescriptions than it is to use his insurance!
anyone know of any discounts at stores in Cleveland, Ohio?? thanks!!!
Something you might want to try is going to the websites for Walmart, Kroger, Target, and the other places that have $4 prescriptions and downloading their PDF of what is on the list. The lists are different for each store. That way, when you do get a new prescription, you can look and see where it is covered. My muscle relaxers were not covered by Walmart, but were at Target!
Hi!!!
Don'tforget to ask your doctor for samples!! Often, they are full sized! For example, I get YAZ (bcp) free from my OBGYN. they have TONS of them in their supply room, along with lots of other bcp's, etc. Also, my regular doc always has Nasonex (full bottles) amongst other samples- ASK!!! :0)
Alissa
Super post, thanks!
We are fortunate enough to have prescription coverage thru my husbands employer.
Because of that, we only pay $5 usually for most of our prescriptions ( my prenatal vitamins, kids medicines, etc ).
I, then, always ask for a 30 day repeating prescription for vitamins, etc...instead of the 3 months supply, and transfer them back and forth between all the pharmacies in the area.
Even though I am done nursing and no longer pregnant, I made sure with the doctor it was OK to still take prenatals vs. over the counter multivitamins ( I think the difference is 400 mg of folic acid vs 1000 mg..but don't quote me ).
He said it was fine, and I asked the pharmacist, too. She also agreed.
Due to this, why should I pay for over the counter when I can make money on prescription vitamins?
So far this year, we have EARNED $190 dollars on prescriptions. Plus, got the medicine for free, essentially.
I LOVE, LOVE pharmacy coupons. If I run low, I buy more "hard copies only..so they are legit" on eBay.
If you have a insurance, I highly recommend looking into coupons vs. your copay to see if you would make money.
Thought I would pass along some information from a friend of mine. Her son recently had an ear infection and for those in the area with a Publix they will give you amoxicillin for free. She said there are others they will give you free for your child as well.
My migraine medicine has a coupon out for 30 free pills and my pharmacy used it and gave it back..Also, my daughter and I both are on Singulair and I get hers free through Merck.
The pharmacist said my Amlodipine would cost $160 and then I remembered to give him the prescription discount card that I bought from www.rxdrugcard.com. Then the cost was only $10.50. If you don't have insurance look online for a discount card. Mine is only $4.50 a month.
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