OT....Another Costco pricing experience

Went to my PCP for a bad cough. He prescribed Benzonatate 100mg. Found out that my insurance doesn't cover it.
Walgreens price for 60 = $49.00........Costco price for 60 = $16.10

Yes, Costco has the best prices when you do not have insurance coverage.
My primary care doctor told me about this a number of years ago.

Walgreens puts my pets on their no insurance family plan and this is a great savings for me.
They are willing to do this even with my having insurance coverage for myself.

I have had good luck with prescription price comparison sites and some of them include costco although they might not mention them by name. Here are a couple I have used:

http://www.goodrx.com/

For medications you take long term, the price can drop a lot if you buy larger quantities so be sure to check as most people only get 30 days worth. It's always worth checking the walmart and the costco prices.

I make up a spreadsheet (you can always go to google.com/drive and use google spreadsheets) and compare the price for different quantities from different stores. Also note that often the price is the same for larger pills so you can save money by buying something like 10 mg and breaking them in half instead of getting the 5 mg. It's a little trouble but you can often save 50%. Here's one I just did on Good Rx that shows the cheapest price is from Walmart for a quantity of 90 or more.



There was an article about goodrx here: http://www.wral.com/prescription-drug-c ... /12006269/

And there are phone apps, including goodrx: http://cdn.consumerreports.org/cro/2012 ... /index.htm

Also, discount drug program report from consumer reports: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012 ... /index.htm

LSAT wrote:Went to my PCP for a bad cough. He prescribed Benzonatate 100mg. Found out that my insurance doesn't cover it.
Walgreens price for 60 = $49.00........Costco price for 60 = $16.10

Not sure why anyone goes to Walgreens... Costco is good.

Walmart 30 day $ 4.00
Walmart 90 day $10.00

Not sure why anyone goes to Walgreens... Costco is good.

1. People don't know they can buy from the pharmacy there without having a membership.
2. Convenience - you got 2 sick kids, or are sick yourself, convenience is significant.
3. Not everything is cheaper or available. Frequent waits for some meds.
4. They simply couldn't handle much increased business - not enough space or employees.

Still, I recommend that people call around when they get a prescription. Unless you are on Medicare, you can insist on getting a written prescription instead of having it 'sent over.' When you are on Medicare, it's a bit harder, although I've not actually had a problem doing that (there's some Medicare rule that encourages doctors to send prescriptions directly to pharmacies). Then, with prescription in hand, you can use apps to find a lowest price or call around. Just remember that driving costs money - saving $5-10 to drive across town isn't usually worth your time, but then it depends on what is convenient for you and how far across town you gotta go.

Finally, if you have more than 4 or 5 prescriptions, consolidating at one pharmacy reduces the risk of a drug interaction. You have to religiously read those printouts and make sure what you are taking is safe for you considering your other meds. I don't take many prescriptions, but I've had two instances where the pharmacist caught an interaction only because all my meds were on file at Walgreens. I mean, who thinks glaucoma eye drops would react with an antibiotic?

edited to add: GoodRx saves my brother $100 a month on a prescription not covered by Medicare (and it's at Walgreens). Worth getting yourself set up with that at your pharmacy, but remember, they don't do it automatically. You have to ask every time.

I wish my medications were that cheap. I called 3 pharmacies for one of my generic medications after reading the above posts:

180 tablets/3 month supply:

$127.89 at Walmart
$119.99 at Walgreens
$107 through Right Source mail order [Medicare Part D/Humana]

When I had a skin cancer that required special medication last year both my doctor and HICAP referred me to an online pharmacy in Canada. Still expensive, but saved a bunch, and the medication worked, no problems.

Most of our prescriptions are filled at Wal Mart (in network),
But we fill our metformin at the nearest 24 hour Walgreens, because they are the only ones
who will dispense the SunPharma generic (25% smaller than the other generics).
--we can NOT swallow horse pills!
We also use the Walgreens for one-off meds we need to fill on the way home from the hospital.
Any time either of us has a drug change, we run the online drug interaction checker.
Sadly, Costco is over 50 miles away. But I bought my hearing aid there!