I lost my job in 2023 and with it, my health insurance. My monthly prescription went from a twenty-dollar copay to a hundred and eighty dollars at the pharmacy counter. The pharmacist watched me stare at the screen, leaned over, and said “Try GoodRx. Same prescription, different price.”

I pulled up GoodRx on my phone. Showed the pharmacist the coupon code. The price dropped from a hundred and eighty to thirty-four dollars. Same medication. Same pharmacy. Same pharmacist. Different price because I had a discount code.

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Discount Cards Are Real and Free

GoodRx, SingleCare, and RxSaver are free discount programs that negotiate lower prices with pharmacies. You do not sign up for anything. You do not pay anything. You search your medication, it shows prices at nearby pharmacies with a coupon code, you show the code to the pharmacist. That is the entire process.

Sometimes the discount price is lower than what insurance would charge. Always check the cash price with a discount card against your insurance copay — especially for generic medications.

Compare Pharmacies

The same medication can cost wildly different amounts at different pharmacies. Costco and Sam’s Club pharmacies are open to non-members in most states — you do not need a membership to use the pharmacy. Their prices are often the lowest because they use prescriptions as a way to get people in the door.

I found that my medication cost ninety dollars at CVS but twenty-two dollars at Costco with a GoodRx coupon. The CVS was a five-minute walk from my apartment. The Costco was a fifteen-minute drive. I drove the fifteen minutes.

Manufacturer Assistance Programs

Most drug companies have patient assistance programs for brand-name medications. If you take a medication that does not have a generic version, go to the manufacturer’s website and look for “patient assistance” or “savings program.” Eligibility is often based on income, but the thresholds can be surprisingly high — sometimes over a hundred thousand dollars for a family.

These programs exist because drug companies get tax benefits for offering them. They are not charity. Use them.

Ask Your Doctor

Tell your doctor you are paying out of pocket. They often have samples from pharmaceutical reps they can give you. They can also prescribe a higher-dose pill that you split in half — a 30-day supply of 40mg tablets split in half becomes a 60-day supply of 20mg doses. Ask if this is safe for your specific medication. Not all pills can be split.