Bargain Quest

To make a long story long: My doctor wrote me a generic prescription, and I took it to Kroger to get filled as usual. There I found out that this particular drug isn’t covered by my insurance. Instead of my normal $10 co-pay, the pharmacist told me the medicine would cost me $32. Confronted with a substantially higher-than-anticipated cost and not needing the medicine right away, I said I’d wait to get it some other time. I didn’t have any expectation of being able to find the drug for more than a few dollars cheaper anywhere else, but since $32 was regular price, I also wasn’t losing anything by delaying.

Later at home I remembered I’d just received in the mail a free membership card to a discount drug program, associated with my Citi Professional card. I checked and sure enough, the program website quoted a $14 price tag for the same drug from Kroger. On my next grocery shopping trip, I gave my discount card to the pharmacy and the prescription was filled for $14.

Presto! An almost effortless $18 saved.

Morals of this story:

1. Procrastination sometimes pays, at least when delaying a purchase allows you to better consider and research the options. Sometimes you have to jump on bargains or they’re gone; but if the situation isn’t urgent, as in this case, avoid being rushed into a purchase. Make sure you’re buying something you actually need and paying a competitive price for it.

2. For prescription drugs, particularly generics, look for alternative discounts to your usual insurance program. I don’t get many prescriptions, and just assumed the insurance rate was a good deal. I may have been wasting money for a while.

For instance, I discovered that another recent ($10) prescription would have cost
-$4 from Wal-Mart ($4 generic drug list), or
-$7.50 from Kroger with the Citi-affiliated discount program, or
-$4.50 from the hospital a mile from our house with the Citi-affiliated discount program. Overall, the prices quoted on the discount website were a couple bucks cheaper if filled at the hospital instead of drug/grocery stores. Is this standard? Do hospitals charge less for drugs?

This is a new bargain arena for me, so please share if you have any good money-saving tips for prescriptions!