Best Prescription Discount Cards for Seniors

Prescription discount cards can save you money on costly medications. In this rundown, we’ll take a look at how these programs work and provide in-depth details about several popular discount card, helping you choose the best one for you and your loved ones.
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The High Cost of Prescription Medication

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.

Best Prescription Discount Cards for Seniors

Prescription Discount Cards 101

Prescription discount cards are free (in most cases) cards that save you money on your medications.

How Do Prescription Discount Cards Work?

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.

Coverage

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.

Savings

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.

How We Chose the Best Prescription Discount Cards

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.

  • Savings: In this category, we looked at the percentage of the discount offered on our prescriptions and the total amount we saved.
  • Coverage: Here, we took note of how many drugs the card covered, how many pharmacies partnered with our card provider, and how close those pharmacies were in relation to us.
  • Privacy: We looked at how much information, if any, we were expected to give the companies and then reviewed their privacy policies for how they were allowed to use the data we gave them.
  • Customer Service: How long did we have to wait to speak with a real person? How friendly and helpful were they?
  • Reliability: We looked at whether or not discount card companies did what they said they would, including whether the discounts were the same as they said online.

1. SingleCare - Best for High-Cost Medications

What We Like Most:
  • Save up to 80% on medications
  • Free to use, with no fees or ongoing obligations
  • Get a coupon via text, email, or simply by printing it from your computer

Overview

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.

Pros
  • Deep Discounts
  • User-friendly Website and App
Cons
  • Limited Locations/Medications

Our Verdict

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.

2. GoodRx - Best All-Around Value

GoodRx - Logo
4.9 / 5
What We Like Most:
  • No sign-up required nor credit card is needed
  • An average customer saves $355 per year on medication
  • The company saves Americans $20 million a day

Overview

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.

Pros
  • Biggest Savings
  • Mobile App
  • Customer Service
Cons
  • Discounts Vary By Day

Our Verdict

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.

3. WellRx - Widest Range of Medications

WellRx Logo
4.6 / 5
What We Like Most:
  • Savings of up to 80 percent
  • Discounts on pet medication
  • Simply show your card or app for discounts
  • Easy-to-use search tool to find the best prices

Overview

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.

Pros
  • Savings
  • Over 25 Years in Business
  • Extras like Ask a Pharmacist and Nutrition Grocery Guide
Cons
  • Actual vs. Potential Savings
  • Requires Personal Information for Sign-Up

Our Verdict

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.

Final Thoughts

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!

Frequently Asked Questions

  • How do prescription discount cards make money?

    Each time you use a discount card, the pharmacy pays the card company a small fee for the referral.

  • Should I ever pay for a discount card?

    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.

  • What if my pharmacy refuses my prescription discount card?

    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.

  • What is a human-equivalent pet prescription?

    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.

amie-clark
Written By
Amie Clark

Amie has been writing about senior care products and services for the last decade. She is particularly passionate about new technologies that help improve the quality of life for seniors and their families. Seeing her parents and grandparents age made Amie ask herself, “Would this be good enough for my loved ones?” In her spare time, Amie enjoys outdoor adventures and spontaneous road trips. Learn more about Amie here