How to Significantly Lower Your Prescription Drug Costs

The high cost of prescription drugs is taking a larger bite out of everyone's budget. This is particularly true of seniors and those suffering from chronic conditions that require a routine of expensive medications daily.

Too many of us assume that drug costs are relatively uniform and that there is little one can do to impact the price paid for prescription drugs. The drug companies tell us that these high prices are required to cover the cost of drug research and development and that if we are to have an ongoing drug development programs the cost must be added to the drugs we currently use.

While that may be true to an extent, it is not true that drug prices are constant and uniform regardless of where you purchase them. You do have options, which if practiced judiciously can lower your drug costs anywhere from 30 to 50%.

The first step in reducing the cost of drugs you purchase is to shop for drugs as you would any other commodity, and that is shop for the best price. Prescription drug costs can vary by as much as 25% from one pharmacy to another. Most of us develop a comfort level with the drug store we have frequented for a while. This may be the result of a convenient location or a friendly pharmacist, or convenient drive through service. As a regular customer of one pharmacy we never consider whether a lower price might be available at another pharmacy a few miles down the road.

You can price shop by telephone. Call the pharmacy during off hours such as late in the evening or midweek afternoons when the pharmacist is less busy and request the cost for the drug and dosage you require. You will find that the large chain stores you expected to be most competitive in price seldom are and often the small family run pharmacy offers the lowest price as it has lower overhead and minimum advertising.

Some pharmacies allow price shopping on line and typically these are among the most price competitive.

Consider buying your prescriptions on line as these companies also benefit from lower overhead and reducing operating costs, meaning they can sell at lower prices and still maintain a healthy profit margin.

On line purchases are particularly beneficial to those who use high volumes of prescription drugs to treat chronic conditions like blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, and cholesterol

If you chose to buy on line beware of illegitimate drug dealers who can offer no evidence of official accreditation or certification. One tip-off suggesting a dealer is illegal is if prescription drugs are sold without a doctor written prescription being required.

Only purchase on line drugs from a pharmacy that displays the Verified Internet Provider Site seal (VIPPS). This seal indicates the site has been inspected and accredited by the National Boards of Pharmacists. Two well-known and safe sites include Medco, www.medco.com and Express Scripts, at www.expressscripts.com.

An often-overlooked opportunity to lower drug costs can be found in requesting your doctor to prescribe older generation drugs. These may be generic or not, but often are just as effective in treating your condition as the newer generation drug, but are not carrying the heavy burden of heavy advertising and research and development recovery costs. Drug companies spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on sales forces who do nothing more than convince doctors to switch from older effective drugs to newer, more expensive replacements.

Generic drugs are always significantly less expensive than brand name drugs and by law are required to have the same formulation and active ingredients. Typically, generic drug costs for the same formulation run a minimum of 200% less.

The FDA maintains a web site that provides an up to date list of all available generic equivalent drugs. This web site is www.fda.gov/cder/ob/default.htm.

Seniors have additional options available through the purchase of Medicare part D prescription drug plane that offers significant discounts for the first $2500 of prescription drug purchases.

Another cost lowering option is to purchase the required drug at double the dosage and split the pill using a pill splitter. For example if you require a 50mg tablet you can purchase a 100mg tablet and split the pill in half before taking. The cost per dose will be cheaper than purchasing the 5 mg dosage.

All of the above are not suitable for everyone, but some of these can be used to help lower your prescription drug cost.

In making choices to lower your cost never take chances on lower quality or outdated drugs and always purchase fro a board-accredited supplier. This should assure the purchase of safe lower cost alternative drugs.