Jan 23, 2006

Save Money With Your Mail Order Pharmacy

If you take a medication long term and your prescription plan offers a mail order pharmacy service, make sure you use the mail order pharmacy. It can save you a lot of money. Choose the generic version of your medication and save even more.

For example, for a name brand medication, my prescription plan charges $15 for a 30-day supply at a retail pharmacy and $25 for a 90-day supply through the mail order pharmacy. The difference is greater with a generic medication: my plan charges $5 for a 30-day supply and $10 for a 90-day supply.

Your prescription plan has most likely sent you forms to send in to order your medication, but I have found that the easiest way to place an order is to have my doctor's office call the mail order pharmacy. The receptionist or nurse will usually ask me to have the pharmacy call them, but when I explain I'm using a mail order pharmacy, they understand that they need to place the call. I obtained the number that my doctor calls by calling the toll-free customer service number. You can usually pay for the medication with a credit card via the pharmacy's website or toll-free number so you can accrue those miles or rewards points (of course, you can also send in a check but you'll have to pay for a stamp!). You may also be able to refill a prescription online.

My mail order pharmacy offers express shipping for an additional cost via FedEx, but I have never found it necessary to use it. Because I only use the mail order pharmacy for long term medication, I always know well ahead of time when I need to order a refill. Standard shipping via the United States Postal Service (which is included in the cost of the medication) usually takes seven to ten days, and I can order a refill 60 days after my last order so it arrives about three weeks before I start that bottle.

2 comments:

George said...

"I have found that the easiest way to place an order is to have my doctor's office call the mail order pharmacy."

Great tip! I didn't know you could have the doctor's office do it.

Sripathi Ramadurai said...

Great tip! I have recapped some additional choices that exist for saving money on drugs on my blog at http://wanderingindianmonk.blogspot.com/2006/01/how-to-save-money-on-pharmaceutical.html