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Each year, Americans spend over $400 billion on prescription medications––more than $1,100 for each person––and this figure accounts for common discounts and rebates. With this in mind, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that one in three older Americans has trouble affording their medications.
Fortunately, insurance isn’t the only way to lower those expensive prescription costs and get the medicines you need. Prescription discount cards can help get you some financial relief on your medications as well, and unlike insurance, they’re totally free!
Planning Care: As part of your retirement planning, you should also consider planning the costs of long-term care. To help weigh your options, try using our free care planning tool.
Prescription discount cards are free (in most cases) cards that save you money on your medications.
Discount programs use the power of bulk purchasing to negotiate savings on medications with pharmacies. This discount is usually a percentage of the cash price but still allows the pharmacy to profit. Whenever a customer uses the savings card, the pharmacy compensates the card company with a small referral fee. The pharmacy benefits from more traffic to their store, the card owner’s make money, and card users save.
Many prescription discount cards cover FDA-approved prescription medications, but some are limited to a smaller number of drugs. Some cover over-the-counter and pet medications as well. The majority of cards cover both generic and brand name drugs.
Depending on your specific card, pharmacy, and location, savings from your prescription discount card will vary. In most cases, savings will range from 20 to 80 percent. Even $20 of savings per month adds up over time.
Brand Discounts: If there is no generic version of the medication you need, there’s no reason to pay an arm and a leg. Go to the medication’s website and look for a discount. Chances are, you’ll find one and decrease your costs dramatically, often reaching as low as $5 to $10 per month.
We considered many factors when selecting our choices for Best Prescription Discount Cards, but these five held the most weight. These are also topics you’ll want to revisit as you determine which prescription discount card is best for you.
How to sign up: No sign up necessary, but you can sign up to save your prescription customizations
Pharmacies: More than 70,000 pharmacies across the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
What’s covered: All FDA-approved prescription medications and hundreds of over-the-counter drugs and medical supplies are covered under this card. A GoodRx card also covers human-equivalent pet prescriptions.
If You Have Insurance: You cannot combine GoodRx with insurance, but you can use it instead of insurance. However, the purchase will not count toward your insurance deductible.
How to Use: Search for your prescription online, customize your coupon, print it, and bring it with you to the pharmacy. Alternatively, use the GoodRx app and show your digital coupon to the pharmacist.
Savings: While this varies based on the specific medication, a GoodRx card can save you up to 80 percent.
GoodRx came through on some solid discounts time and again. Although the amount that was discounted sometimes varied, we usually saved more with GoodRx than any other card. Their website and mobile app were also easy to navigate.
How to Sign Up: Sign up online at the WellRX website and download your card immediately onto your smartphone.
Pharmacies: WellRx is accepted at 65,000 pharmacies nationwide.
What’s Covered: All prescription medications are covered by WellRx, though the discount will vary with each one.
If You Have Insurance: You can use WellRx for any prescriptions not covered by insurance. If you have Medicare Part D, you can use WellRx for any prescriptions not included in Medicare Part D. If you have Medicare but are not enrolled in Part D, you can use WellRx freely.
How to Use: Print your WellRx card and bring it with you to the pharmacy OR use the WellRx mobile app, available on Apple and Google Play app stores.
Savings: WellRx offers an average discount of 60% on medications, potentially up to 80%. Similar discounts are available for pet medications.
Although some discount cards have the same deep discounts as WellRx, the service overall managed to provide savings for most medications at more than 64,000 pharmacies nationwide. Its extra services helped improve our health, and we felt more confident about the services WellRx provided since it’s been running successfully for over a quarter of a century.
How to Sign Up: Sign up online at SingleCare’s website.
Pharmacies: SingleCare works with over 35,000 in the United States, including Puerto Rico.
What’s Covered: More than 10,000 prescriptions.
If You Have Insurance: You can use your SingleCare card instead of insurance but not with it. If you have Medicare Part D, sometimes the SingleCare cost is cheaper than your copay, or Medicare won’t cover the medication. This would be a smart time to use SingleCare.
How to Use: Use the search function on the SingleCare website to find the lowest price near you and customize the dosage and quantity. Then download, text, or email a SingleCare coupon card to yourself and bring it to the pharmacy with you.
Savings: With SingleCare, you can save up to 80% on prescription drugs. On average, individuals save about $208 per year with SingleCare.
SingleCare is great for some medications in some locations. It took some trial and error as to which of my prescriptions benefited from these discounts, but the ones that did typically saved me a lot. Be sure to make check that you live near a participating pharmacy before investing your energy in this card.
How to Sign Up: You can sign up with Blink Health either online or over the phone.
To sign up online, go to Blink Health’s homepage. In the top right corner, select sign in. At the bottom right of the sign-in page, you’ll see an option to create an account. Click there, and fill out the required information. Make sure your name and birthday are the same as on your prescription, and use a valid email since all receipts and tracking info will be sent there.
Pharmacies: Single Care works with over 35,000 pharmacies in the United States and Puerto Rico.
What’s Covered: Single Care covers over 15,000 prescription medications.
How to Use: Search for the medication on the Blink Health website. Then pay online. If you plan to pick up your prescription at a local pharmacy, you’ll receive a Blink card, which you can print out or use digitally through the smartphone app after your online payment. Go to any participating pharmacy and show your card at the pharmacy counter to pick up your medicine.
Savings: Single Care offers discounts of up to 80% on prescription medications.
Blink Health’s online payment, home delivery, and option to visit a doctor on their site is an interesting and enticing combination. However, poor customer service and lack of personal privacy make us less likely to use them. That said, they’re a newer company and will likely improve with time.
With so much cash on the line, there’s not much to lose with free prescription discount cards, especially ones that don’t require any personal info. You can even keep them in your pocket or palm at all times, as most are available on mobile apps. If prescription costs are eating away at your savings, then incorporating a prescription discount card into your medication management routine is a great idea.
Whether you use one of our recommendations or find another card using the evaluation system we mentioned earlier, don’t keep paying too much for medication. Also, check out our complete guide to prescription discount cards to learn more. Stay healthy, and enjoy your savings!
Each time you use a discount card, the pharmacy pays the card company a small fee for the referral.
There are so many free discount cards that it usually doesn’t make sense to pay for one. Cards from big-name retailers are generally legitimate, but some of those paid discount cards have also been known to be scams. Your best bet is to avoid them.
Should you experience an issue at the pharmacy, call your discount card’s customer service. GoodRx, for example, has individuals ready to help resolve these types of issues.
Since some pet medications are the same as those for humans, pharmacy discount cards will sometimes help pay for these as well. The human-equivalent prescription is what you’ll need to have your veterinarian send the pharmacy, so they can fill your pet’s medication. It’s essentially the amount a human would take adjusted for weight.
