Last year people in Florida and around the country spent $400 billion on medicine.It can be a real struggle. So we went in search of where to go and what to do to slash your drug costs.
Connie Tucker suffers from both diabetes and a severe immune disorder leaving her dependent on 20 medications a day.
An estimated 30 million of us pay full price for prescriptions.
In cases like Tucker’s paying full price would amount to $3,000 a month.
We shopped four of the more common prescriptions in Tucker’s bag with online, locally owned and national chain pharmacies. We found huge disparities in price.
On average Healthwarehouse.com and Costco gave us the best deals. But we still recommend to always check with small locally owned pharmacies.
The Tampa Family Pharmacy came in a hundreds of dollars lower than all the others on Tucker's insulin.
Lisa Gill studied drug pricing for Consumer Reports. She shopped 5 generic versions of widely used medicines like Lipitor, Cymbalta and Plavix and she too found cost differences in the hundreds.
Always ask your doctor to switch if there is not generic. Always ask for the cash price even if you have insurance because sometimes the cash price is cheaper.
In some cases pharmacies like Costco offer a generic discount plan. That can mean paying as little as $10 but watch out for fees.
Depending on the drug a generic is not always available. In those instances research the drug maker and contact them for information on patient assistance programs. Depending on your income you may qualify for discounts or coupons.
