2. When you use GoodRx, you're trading your personal and private health information for what amounts to a few bucks in savings for almost all transactions. Do you want your employer, or your insurance company, or anyone else to know you’re on anti-depressants, HIV medication, Viagra, or that you regularly get medication for genital warts? When you use GoodRx, ALL that data regarding your prescription transaction is collected and stored. GoodRx employs people to dig into it analyze it. And they use and sell that data. At one time they printed on their website that they consider your data an asset and if/when they sell their company YOUR PRIVATE DATA gets sold too.
You also have to understand that at the pharmacy this is yet another billing nightmare. The patient gets the card handed to them by the physician or they get one in the mail and they hand it to us. So we use that billing. THEN at the register the patient pulls up the app and sees a price they expect to get at the register. When it doesn't match the pharmacy has to start all over. This wastes EVERYONE's time!
4. Using GoodRx fragments healthcare. People often get multiple prescriptions from their physician and then when they get specific GoodRx prices for each of the meds the best prices are most often not all offered at the same pharmacy. People will take each prescription to a different pharmacy to get the best GoodRx price. This is DANGEROUS! No one pharmacy knows exactly what the patient is taking and we have no idea if there are any interactions or issues. Fragmentation in healthcare is a SERIOUS problem. See this LINK.
5. GoodRx destroys the professionalism of Pharmacy. Your pharmacist provides a professional service. We went to years of schooling to keep you safe and make sure your prescriptions are correct, safe, and appropriate for you. GoodRx turns it into a cheap circus show of carnival barking where the only thing that matters is a few bucks.
6. GoodRx takes precious time away from the pharmacy. We’re already strapped for time and GoodRx only makes it worse. Imagine you’re shopping on Amazon. Further suppose Amazon required you to put in your credit card billing information not only for every time you made a purchase but also for every single separate item you purchased online? A little tedious? You bet! And that’s the best way to describe what’s happening when you use GoodRx. The result of all this time we spend on GoodRx billing reduces the time for filling medications— so we have to speed up to keep up! And that too is DANGEROUS! Are you really ok that we are pressed for time filling your child’s antibiotic medication so someone else can save a few bucks?
7. GoodRx has people so brainwashed they insist we try it even when we already know the price will be better on their insurance. People no longer believe us and make us go through the tedious nonsense just to prove it to them.
8. GoodRx takes money away from the pharmacy that fills the prescription. Part of the “amazing” savings is just lopped off the reimbursement the pharmacy receives. And when pharmacies make less money they turn to cutting pharmacist and tech hours at slower stores. You may save a few bucks on a prescription but overall you’re hurting the lives of the very people filling your prescription. See LINK.
9. GoodRx has infiltrated physician offices and have doctors and their staff convinced they're doing a good thing for their patients when they’re not. Moreover, we at the pharmacy would never tell a patient what their doctor's office visit should cost them. Yet physicians consistently pass out GoodRx cards to patients. This is the utmost in disrespect.
10. GoodRx changes prescription filling from being centered around healthcare to being all about cost. I literally have patients every day more concerned (and in some cases totally consumed) about whether their prescription was run on GoodRx instead of having any interest in learning how to take the medication and what to look for with side effects. This too is INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS! Saving money is nice, but knowing how to take your medication and what to watch out for is much more important, don't you think?
57 comments:
Thank for your post. Really, today I have learned about this word "GoodRx".
Such a great post and well written. Any individual with limited or no prescription drug coverage can benefit from a Pharmacy savings card. Instead of paying full price for medication, card members can save money whenever they purchase prescription drugs
Maybe if certain pharmacies were not ripping off consumers, then there would not be a need for GoodRx. The following is a real example that happened to me. I take a generic drug (ezetimibe) to help control my cholesterol. When I switched insurance carries, I needed to refill my prescription but did not have my new prescription card. I decided just to pay cash for the refill of 90 tablets. My local Walgreens wanted $157.50 for the prescription that cost less than $2. I went onto GoodRx and the local CVS offered me a price of $22. I was willing to go the 0.1 miles to the CVS to save $135.
Retired Pharmacist
As a soon to be retired pharmacist (14 more working days!) I can understand the logic behind not being able to wait a week or two for a new insurance card so I can get a prescription filled for a drug that requires strict compliance to insure my well being like a cholesterol medication does. Phuck me.
Wow! I love this blog. This is very informative blog for us. This post is very helpful for pharmacy students.The Diazepam 10mg is one of the best medicine for reducing panic attacks and anxiety.
Hey Crazy how are you? Where are you? Miss your writings
Are you okay Crazy? Your public anxiously awaits...
Hmm, I just picked up a GoodRX card at the doc. But I get my prescriptions at Costco and don't feel the need to shop around. You just confirmed my hunch. Please come back and post more.
Goodrx saved me $1800 on ONE prescription. So, yeah well......
Right on with this blog!
I'm convinced these blogs are paid by the pharmaceutical companies to bash GoodRx/cheaper alternative prescriptions.
Like millions of Americans, I don't have health insurance. I was told to pay 95 dollars upfront for antibiotics. That's absolutely ridiculous. I got it knocked down to 15 dollars with GoodRx.
How it should be.
1. "Any information we receive is stored securely and used to improve our service, such as making sure our prices are accurate or reminding you when it’s time to refill. We do not sell data to third parties." Source: GoodRX privacy policy. They also make money with GoodRx Gold, a subscription service for more discounts.
2. USA Healthcare is already so fragmented, it's on the 27th ranking of Healthcare and Education. Finland, Iceland, Denmark, and the Netherlands, all top ranking are publicly funded and universal.
Also, it should be the same prescription if you go to different pharmacies as the same way I buy the same milk and bread at different stores.
3. "GoodRx destroys the professionalism of Pharmacy" This is inconsequential! Pharmacies DO make mistakes, whether it's giving the wrong dosage to even the wrong medicine! GoodRx doesn't have anything to do with this!
4. "GoodRx takes precious time away from the pharmacy." This is your problem! If you have to compromise time to meet deadlines/goals at the expense of workers/customers, then you're doing it wrong. A transaction should be carefully done, without being a rush.
5. "GoodRx has people so brainwashed" That's fearmongering. If people choose these services, then they're not brainwashed. They're actually smart not to pay 500 dollars on a prescription that has a 200% markup.
I'm saving literally $300 a month on prescriptions not covered by my employer-provided insurance. That's close to $4000 per year. Could you please suggest some alternatives?
I read this article and see nothing wrong with my patients saving money, being compliant on their medications and being able to afford dinner too. Stop the fearmongering as the above comment states.
Pffffft. You'd sing a different tune if the discount was coming out of your salary instead of the pharmacy.
Wow someone is bitter and clearly hates their customers.
No. I clearly hate GoodRx. Duh.
Sorry not sorry. My prescription costs over $2000 without insurance. GoodRx gets it down to $800. Unless the pharmacist has control of the drug prices, I must use GoodRx to fill my medication. In fact the pharmacist was the one who showed me how much I could save with it. I'm incredibly grateful she showed me about the card. I use my Insurance for most of my medical needs but for this particular medication, GoodRx wins this round.
GoodRx may save individuals money but it has also caused many issues. They are essentially like a mafia that comes into a place of business wanting a "cut" of the profits and doing absolutely nothing to earn it. They charge large transmission fees just to process these discount cards. The patient doesn't pay this, the pharmacy does. This racks up hundreds of thousands in fees each year alone for many large corporations. Then medications are knocked down to the point where the pharmacy isn't making any profit. This might not sound like a big deal, but it does take money to run a business. To pay for the building, the lights, the supplies, the people who work behind the counter. Where is the first place they are going to cut when profits start going down... they are going to cut the labor. So think about that when you are standing in a very long line, or the phone is ringing off the hook and no one is answering it. That wonderful discount care that you are recommending to ALL of your friends is cutting people out of work. You get what you pay for. You want cheap, then you get cheap. Yes, it will become everyone's problem when there is a large enough of the population wanting to use discount cards. The pharmacy staff is already pushing themselves to get everything done that is already expected of them, then you add the bullcrap of GoodRX, it just makes it worse. It is not fearmongering when it is the truth.
I'm so glad that I found Goodrx and can understand that pharmacies are now like other businesses and must see patients as customers with loyalty to their own financial situations and not a business....I've already saved a considerable amount of money and I just started
Amen, brother. Drug companies consistently rip off consumers. Look what's happened to the price of Epi pens and insulin in the last couple of years. Insulin has been around for decades and last year the price skyrocketed out of reach for many people. Crazy Pharmicist writes so condescendingly about trying to save a couple of dollars. A lot of people are on a fixed income or have family members with serious chronic conditions requiring a lot of expensive medications. How dare they try to save money. Jump down off your high horse Crazy Phamacist and get a little reality check.
Amen, brother. Drug companies consistently rip off consumers. Look what's happened to the price of Epi pens and insulin in the last couple of years. Insulin has been around for decades and last year the price skyrocketed out of reach for many people. Crazy Pharmicist writes so condescendingly about trying to save a couple of dollars. A lot of people are on a fixed income or have family members with serious chronic conditions requiring a lot of expensive medications. How dare they try to save money. Jump down off your high horse Crazy Phamacist and get a little reality check.
Get out of my head. I thought the exact same thing about pharma companies producing this blog.
Price reasonably and GoodRx goes away. It's that simple. Same for the medical services. People would rather pay the doctors that serve them and the pharmacists as well rather than insurance companies and HMO's. The services could charge less and still make more than they are now by eliminating the profits of these companies that regulate the cost.
Pharmacies failed to negotiate better contracts with insurance companies. In the current climate they are told what they will be paid for their services. What happened to free enterprise?
Ummm, wow!!! You are so spot on! I loved how the author of the post wrote and he definitely got his point across, but SO DID YOU! I'm going with unknown <3
As a pharmacy technician I am all for people saving money. What I hate is how Goodrx commercials makes patients think everything can be done at the register it takes time to rebill claims and they get angry. Then, if they have multiple prescriptions and have billing information for each one it takes time. Patients also get upset if the prices don't come back as it shows on the coupon. They think that Goodrx is always right on prices. We try to explain that it's an estimate. Last, for every claim that is billed to Goodrx we, the pharmacy, pay them $7. Sometimes the prices come back less than what we paid for the drug. So, not only are we paying Goodrx we loose money on the drug.
But its not the drug companies paying, its your neighbor who works at the pharmacy down the street.
Free enterprise when it comes to life or death is pretty messed up man.
I am very happy to use Goodrx and will continue. Especially now when we are being ripped off by healthcare and pharmaceuticals. People are living paycheck to paycheck. What nerve to try and discourage people from using this valuable resource.
Any update to 9/18/20 on Good Rx that is less harmful to pharmacy profession. We do count on the pharmacist as the "most trusted" of our community members. Pharmaceuticals are not commodities like shovels.
Idiot.
Saving over $100 per month is not “ a few bucks” things are rough out there saving $1200 a year is worth anything you wanna spit out as an inconvenience while doing your job
Agreed
I had to use GoodRX for the first time because my husband lost his job and my health insurance was tied to his job. I'm disabled and have around 9 prescription medications(not even counting OTC meds) and while I'm sorry the pharmacy goes through this struggle, it has saved me. I actually waited and went without 3 meds and got almost hospitalized before the doctor mentioned to try GoodRx. When my blood pressure was 164/125 because I was out my meds and knew I had no way to pay hundreds of dollars for retail costs of my meds? Yeah, it isn't always about saving $1.50, it was the difference between having meds and a roof over my head or going without and risking my life.
Rx card has saved my family lots of needed money. No insurance now, Obama care threw insurance prices through the roof for us and we can no longer afford it. It is what it is. If it’s so terrible for pharmacies then why do they use them? They must be getting some $ somewhere for using them or they wouldn’t. Maybe not from rx, but possibly from a third party that wants them to use it? Respectfully, I wonder though if the writer were to walk in the shoes of many who need the rx card, would he stick to his guns and not use the card, and not get the meds he needs, or would he slide that rx card across the counter like the rest of us. A serious question.
Don't have insurance. Goodrx has been saving me lots of money for my medications. If pharmacists are concern about Goodrx, why not match what Goodrx offers?
I'm currently a retail Pharmacist. I've been in pharmacy for over 20 years. Medications use to be reasonably priced, they have become overinflated like so many other things in this capitalistic society that we live in. Mankind has gotten greedy and sadly pharmacists are the middle man between the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies. We trained to be healthcare professionals yet most treat us like overpaid clerks anymore so I can understand Crazy Pharmacist point of view. However I didn't get into pharmacy to get rich, I got into pharmacy to make a descent living and to help people. So if it takes a little bit more of my time and energy to save people some money so they can stay healthy and provide for their family then I will do it. I suggest GoodRx all the time to people who don't have insurance or who's insurance is horrible.
My daughter got an infection from a misquito bite near her eye last July. They wanted $500(!) for the antibiotics. Thru events that are more a review on the pharmacy than anything, we needed up at a different pharmacy who not only called my child's dr to have the prescription changed to a cheaper antibiotic. They also pulled up a goodrx coupon on their phone to apply without me even asking. I spent $20. Its definitely more than "a few dollars" saved and honestly, if your pharmacy is going to flounder over a couple of dollars of savings, it would probably fail anyway. For a pharmacist to share this and put it on the patient just trying to afford medicines, which in many cases may be necessary to continue their lives, instead of the companies who prices the drug to ridiculous amounts, to me, says you don't care about the patient. There is no reason a mosquito bite should cost $500(not even counting the dr visit) and no reason a pharmacist should try to shame someone into paying that much.
Could all pharmacists who hate GoodRx go away from business? You don't deserve be pharmacists! Thank you!
I have been a practicing pharmacist for 30 years, I am 56 and am anouncing my retirement on Thursday. GoodRx has ruined my store. I have had partner 2 partners quit within 3 months. I had a lady threaten to kill me (I had to call the police over $1.07. I have 3 more weeks to go and will open an independent pharmacy shortly their after. I wish I could collect workers comp for the PTSD caused by this. To the people who reley on it to get buy I understand that having a life that probably consisted of poor planning and letting life just happen to you have no choice. But beware one day that overworked stress out pharmacist will make an unfortunate error and just like that you spouse child parent winds up dead or in the hospital or brain dead. You think that the pharmacy should give its workers more help to lose money. well life doesn t work like that you get 1 part time tech a cashier that is so dumb she has trouble spelling BoB couse that s what ya get for 7 bucks an hour and a tech who deals with your pharmacy by poping xanax like candy and drinks 1/2 bottle of vodka to sleep. This has to be the closest thing to socialized medicine you can get Oh and by the way malpractice claims are capped at 250,000 in my state so I hope MoM is worth that
I just tried to fill my clobetasol ointment for eczema and it was $400.00
Bc Insurance would not fill it...I used good RX and paid only $27.54...it may be time consuming for the clerk but it saved me over $370....totally disagree the savings is small...My deductible for Insurance was met it should be free...but Insurance would not cover Good RX works.
You show me one pharmacy that cares about my health.. I have to use goodrx. I take 10 medications a day. Without insurance. If it wasent for goodrx. I would not be about to afford mine and the 3 my husband takes , and still with goodrx I can't afford epi pin, and my asthma medication for my nib. I started using goodrx, but sadly my Costco mail order is backing out if good rx.. and nothing cheap is around me I'm going to need to try Kroger mail order but they need a rx fill first.. I'm house bound so not sure how we canvworkbaround
I don't understand.
- If pharmacists hate GoodRx - then just don't accept the card.
- If the problem really is the clerical work involved, find a way to automate it as we've done with other tedious tasks in business.
Prescription pricing seems to be a racket in which one person may pay $1 while another pays 10 times that. So consumers are wary. That's a reasonable reaction to being gouged.
Ya know.... this may be true about GoodRX but more than 79% of PharmDs make more than $120k with the average being around 3x the avg US household of 5 people at $150k plus. I know more pharmDs that make in the $180k to $240k range a year and quite simply I dont feel bad at ALL.
Stop complaining; do your job; the gen pub has grown to automatically dislike pharmDs bc they have a history of playing victim, making up excuses not to fill (I got chastised for losing a damn antibiotic RX once like Im an antibiotic addict ohhhh noooo!!!! Lmao)
Treat people better. Enjoy that Jaguar you have double parked and your half a million dollar home.
Get a grip on reality.
Just from reading poor grammar and spelling in the comments from some of the "pharmacists" here, I have to assume some are lying about being a pharmacist or I've wrongly assumed they have to be more intelligent to pass a pharmacy program.
What I'm getting from article is that the opinion of the pharmacist is GoodRx saves money, but it sure is inconvenient and time consuming so the consumer should stop being so selfish and just pay the exorbitant mark up so the cashier can quickly get to the next customer.
I work in the healthcare field where I provide direct patient care and also do a lot of work on the medical billing side. You are right. It does take precious time away to have to rebill something. It does slow you down and increase your work load. It can make you grit your teeth, sigh, and roll your eyes. You can become frustrated at having to rework something you've already done. But you do it anyway. You do it because priority #1 is the patient. You do it because doing so helps people afford necessary care. You should do it in your case because it can make the difference between someone being able to afford a medication that could keep them alive or having to go without. You minimize the savings a person can experience by calling it "a few bucks." I'm sure you know that calling a few bucks is completely untrue, just read some of the savings people have experienced in the comments. I hear similar stories of very large savings all the time.
You speak about it taking precious time away from the pharmacy. How about changing the process at the register? How about asking the right questions when you receive an rx to fill to anticipate and avoid such a delay? There are many other solutions to the problem than just your expectation that people pay whatever ridiculous charge you ask so you can simply say "Next!"
I have a great respect for those who chose to go into the field of pharmacy and most that I know make six figures, the highest in big box retail. I'm sorry that you feel taking the extra time to help someone afford their medicine and also afford to eat is taking away your precious time and "destroying the professionalism of Pharmacy," but you should have to earn that six figure income, so suck it up. Feeling overworked, stressed, and underappreciated? Welcome to working in healthcare. Didn't anyone tell you?
Pharmacy should be about the trust patients have in the pharmacist and dedication to care and accuracy the pharmacist has in their job. Helping to make medication accessible I would think should another cause of the pharmacist, and yet you almost seem to threaten that by using a GoldRx card and delaying the cashier, one is causing you potentially make a "dangerous" error in the medication you provide for their child. Completely unprofessional! I agree the professionalism of Pharmacy has been destroyed, but I hardly think GoodRx is to blame for it.
As a medical professional who sees the suck on both sides of this issue, I have to wonder why we can’t stand together and fight what I see as the real problem...the insurance and health “industry” ! There shouldn’t be a need for GoodRx and the fact that there really is shows how grossly messed up our country is. I totally understand the frustration of the pharmacists, but also, do they not additionally see how messed up it is that the CVSs of the world choose to cut costs by cutting people first? How is that any better? We as medical professionals need to unite (isn’t that’s what those old unions I always used to hear about were are for?) and simply say NOPE to these companies. Without us, the country wouldn’t function Bc we are essential and maybe they need a reminder. Nothing is going to change as long as it’s all about money. Every person has a fundamental right to have affordable medicine and to be able to actually get what their doctor wants them to get and pharmacists have a right to practice their trade as they were trained without feeling rushed and spending all their time doing paperwork! Sorry for the rant, I’m just sick of all this suffering and companies getting rich off the suffering of others while those in healthcare become depressed and blamed!
my pharmacy has a stack of these cards at their checkout... doesn't seem like they have a problem with it.
A major component of excessive drug prices is the pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) corporations. They were originally set up to negotiate the best drug prices for their business customers, mainly empoyers, and their insurers. But the PBM's soon became middlemen between the pharmaceutical companies and pharmaceurical distributors, speculating in drugs, inflating prices, and unduly enriching themselves, abandoning their original mission to negotiate better drug prices for employers/insurers, and drug customers.
I think alot of this info is accurate ... but the bottom line is this ...... people who do not have insurance want to pay less . Most people do ... as a matter of fact.. I was paying out of pocket for a prescription and the pharmacy offered to use the discount card to help me pay less because the price was a crazy amount and it cut it by half ! So. For people without insurance it can be a huge difference. And the walgreens has no problem doing that because they brought it up .. not me .
1. To guy with no Healthcare insurance,, Obamacare is the insurance for those without plans through their employees. Your supposed to buy it or get fined.
2. He mentioned Universal Healthcare. It is not free. Britian, Canada, etc. Pay high payroll taxes that funds their national healthcare system. Also they pay higher sales taxes (VAT) In UK its called NHS. They ration medicine, your put on surgery waiting list for a long time. And UK also has Healthcare Insurance you can buy and see independent physicians and surgeons, pharmacy if you prefer to be seen immediately and not wait all day at hospital walk in clinic. So UK and Canada also have Healthcare insurance.
In addition Good Rx has been higher than my RX plan.
Sorry you feel this way, but with healthcare costs as they are today, we have to save money WHEREVER we can!! Maybe the insurance companies should give us the same break as GoodRx?? Or better yet, maybe Big Pharma should give us a cost break!!! They’re so kind and considerate, you know?!? NOT.
If the pharmacy is feeling the pressure, maybe it is time they put some pressure forward to the drug company. For example, negotiate better rebates with the manufacturer that will allow the pharmacy to offer a lower price in the first place.
This is a maze, but things have to add up. I was able to reduce a prescription cost from $120 to $33. That is not a few bucks for some people. That means that someone that is not me was unable to receive $87. Whoever it is, they have to make an adjustment in their process and pricing structure, and work with their business partners to accomplish a structure that will compete with GoodRx and the like.
We are in an era in which the consumer is able to get more real-time information and sometimes get an upper hand. Companies need to understand that. Some people will be OK with their data being used. At least, different from social media, the consumer CAN GAIN A FINANCIAL BENEFIT.
agreed Support Your local Pharmacist Rx Express Pharmacist Family owned United Health Care I am not happy with, I can't stand firstLine Medical DBA OptumRX Nope I upset We Must support out Local Pharmacist Online takes away from local family owned Pharmacist
Agreed
Agreed
I call out crazy. I tried for 3 months to use the good rx card at a big local grocery pharmacy approved by good rx . Pharmacist kept saying it would cost me more And denied good rx every which way I tried. I had a Good rx card on file ,I have the App, I tried coupons on at least 7 occasion over 3 month period . My insurance denied my medication and has for 6 yrs not the meds they denied but the dose / quantity was denied . I take a lower does but 4 times a day not once a day.
Pharmacist kept saying it would cost more than my insurance . Card wouldn’t work, coupon no good etc. I
Payed $126,00 in January , $355,00
In February, March $36,00. Pharmacist he didn’t want
Me
circumventing the system he said I didn’t know what that ment but I didn’t like the sound of it ? Now I have been on this medication for 8 yrs . I will never meet my high deductable unless of a major health crisis . Is he a accusing me of wrong doing ? After reading crazy’s thoughts .I believe he was accusing me now !!! Ok then is my pharmacist running my script however he please then At night when he closes out his registrar . Rerunning my script under good rx and pocketing the difference ? ... I had good rx call the pharmacy my cost 17.00. . 1/2 the price of the 36,00
I paid for insurance .
Where is the other approx $445,00 I had coupons for ????
Call good rx if you have an issue with a pharmacist that is charging you to much! If this is how we all get a break on medication I say use it !
I work in a pharmacy and all this information is spot on.
1. I haven't personally looked into goodrx's privacy policy, however, I know they are not able to generate a profit without selling ads and/or data, as it goes with any free services offered.
2. The issue of fragmentation is referring to the idea that the consumer uses different pharmacies to fill different prescriptions based solely on price. That limits a pharmacies ability to screen for drug interactions if they aren't aware of all the drugs a patient is taking. That's the danger. Every prescription is looked over by the pharmacist to assess safety, but if they are missing information, they can't properly protect their patients.
3. Many people treat pharmacies like a fast food operation where they expect everything to be done within minutes. Drive thrus also contribute to that mentality. It can be disheartening to go through 4 years of graduate school to be yelled at about prices by customers, which, btw, we have no control over since their insurance usually dictates their copays and the cash prices get inflated because people are saving so much that it's the only way to not end up in the red. Something people don't know about pharmacies is that they usually don't turn much of a profit at all. They are very expensive to run with the appropriate staffing and chain pharmacies make the majority of their profits at the front end of the stores.
4. Working in a pharmacy is an extremely stressful job with many moving parts. Pharmacists often do not take lunch breaks because there isn't time to get all the work they need to get done finished in time for closing. Both pharmacists and technicians are on their feet for up to 12 hours without sitting.
If a goodrx coupon saves a patient a substantial amount of money, I'm all for taking the time to re-run the prescription, however, if it's just to save a few bucks and it's multiple prescriptions with multiple goodrx coupons it is very time consuming. I imagine stores get annoyed with those extreme couponers at the front end because they slow everything down for everyone else, but in a pharmacy it's even more time consuming because we have to type all the information on the card into the system, reprocess the prescription and change labels, which requires a pharmacist to check off to make sure the patient gets the correct medication.
5. Believe me, insurance saves more than goodrx the overwhelming majority of the time and the pricing listed on their site are not always accurate. They often require you to input the exact drug, strength and quantity because the insurance codes are very specific and often people do it incorrectly and cause even more time to be wasted. It is so incredibly rare for a goodrx to save more than insurance. In the past 4 months I've worked in the pharmacy, I've seen it happen 0 times.
A better option would be something like walgreens offers with their prescription savings plan for only $20 annually to help with coverage gaps with insurance. Signing someone up for that can save hundreds of dollars, even with the annual fee. I recently saved someone about $80 on one prescription, including the annual fee.
Goodrx may be better for those that don't have insurance and aren't on any chronic medications to just help with the cost of an antibiotic when it doesn't matter that they're shopping around based on price because they aren't taking any other medications that could interact with their new antibiotic. But this article brings up a lot of good points that people often don't think about.
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