The true cost of drugs
Right now many of us are struggling with how to survive in the middle of a pandemic. Some of us have it are having a harder time compared to others. This blog post is for those of us struggling with managing our health.
If you were recently unemployed or are struggling to make rent, and you don’t have insurance right now or have right health insurance rates, this post is for you.
When I was the University of Southern California working on a research project with my classmates on researching the pharmaceutical industry – I understood these dualities well. But, I was still shocked to find out exactly how big the disparities were – and I want to share them with you today.
So, what exactly was our project and why do you need to know about it?
My fellow research students and I worked with the USC Schaffer Center over a year to secretly shop for four drugs at pharmacies in Los Angeles County. We each went to over 100 different pharmacies to ask the price of these prescription drugs – with research study approval, of course.
We found that there was a huge difference between the price of a drug based on which pharmacy you went to. A drug like Atorvastatin, the generic medication for Lipitor, a cholesterol medication could be as little as $15 or as much as $524 based on what pharmacy you went to.
Now, I’m not here to call out the pharmaceutical industry on this issue – because there are lots of factors that contribute to why this situation is the way it is. And I am not an expert on how the industry runs. But, I can give you come practical tips based on what we learned to help you make smarter decisions about how to price shop for drugs so that you can save some money.
Our recommendation:
Don’t assume that every pharmacy will charge you the same price. This is the biggest issue when it comes to most people shopping for drugs. They think the price of a drug is the same no matter where they go – when this is actually not true. The best thing you can do for yourself when you are struggling with paying for a drug is to look for the lowest price.
How can you do that?
You can do that by utilizing resources like GoodRx which can help you compare the price of the same prescription at different pharmacies in your area. Now, even GoodRx is not perfect because it often doesn’t have detailed information on prices at independent pharmacies – which may be lower in some instances compared to what is shown on the app. But, it is a tool that can be of huge help when you are struggling to pay for your medications.
The second thing to do is to actually check at your independent pharmacies for the price of a drug. You could do this by just calling them up, if you don’t have time to go in person.
We didn’t have any absolute truths form this experience. Independent pharmacies are not always cheaper than box chain pharmacies, it really depends on which medication you need. However, doing these two things could be the difference between sending $15 and several hundred dollars on a tool you need to survive.
