PharmacyChecker.com was mentioned this week in a U.S. News and World Report article entitled How to Cut Your Drug Costs. Listed among other effective ways to save money on prescription drugs, the article notes that PharmacyChecker “compares prices of mail-order pharmacies, and can help you find the lowest posted prices.”
How to Cut Your Drug Costs reminds readers that buying drugs from Canada – and elsewhere overseas – is technically illegal, but it quotes AARP: “Over the past decade millions of Americans have ignored U.S. law to seek cheaper prices from Canada, most often by mail order.” Notably, AARP found Canadian prices for Lipitor to be about a third less than they are here in the U.S. The fact that the FDA has (to our knowledge) never prosecuted an individual for importing a three-month supply of personal, non-controlled drugs with a valid prescription, means that they too understand the importance of access to safe and affordable medication.
The article recommends other useful tips for lowering prescription costs, most of which can be found with detailed information in our Consumer Guide. U.S. News and World Report suggests: Use your health plan’s mail-order pharmacy and get 90-day supplies; find out if there are any generic versions of branded drugs on your prescription list (look for those blockbuster brands that have patents about to expire); use the Medicare Plan Finder website to see if a different plan would better suit your needs; check out the low cost generic programs at CostCo, CVS, Kroger, Target, and Wal-Mart – often just $4 for a month’s supply; and ask your pharmacy if it will match the low generic prices that these major chains offer.
While it extremely useful to know all the options for saving money on prescription drugs, the fact remains that U.S. prescription costs are simply too high. If pharmaceutical companies are not willing to lower prices for the benefit of American consumers, we need to do our homework and make the most of the resources we have – this article, and research found in our Consumer Guide, allow consumers to do just that.
