Consumers
who don’t shop around for their prescription drugs may be paying significantly
more.
Failing to
comparison shop could result in overpaying by as much as $100 a month or even
more, depending on the drug, Consumer Reports said in the May issue of the
magazine.
Consumer
Reports compared drug prices for five top-selling drugs that have recently gone
generic, including heart drugs Lipitor and Plavix. It found that Costco offered
the lowest retail prices overall and CVS charged the highest.
While consumers
can find low drug prices at Costco, consumers may find a good deal too at their
local independent pharmacies, Consumer Reports said.
Consumer
Reports’ secret shoppers called more than 200 pharmacies throughout the nation
to get retail prices – what you would pay without insurance – on a month’s
supply of five best-selling drugs that have recently become available as
generics:
- Actos,
pioglitazone, for diabetes.
- Lexapro,
escitalopram, an antidepressant.
- Lipitor,
atorvastatin, for high cholesterol.
- Plavix, clopidogrel,
a blood thinner.
- Singulair,
montelukast, for asthma.
The result?
A difference of $749, or 447 percent, between the highest and lowest priced
stores.
Some price
comparisons
If you shop
around, you could find a month’s supply of generic Lipitor at a cost of $17 at Costco. However,
if you purchase it from CVS, you could pay $150. That’s a difference of
$133. Rite Aid and Target were also pricey, the Consumer Reports’
shoppers found.
For the
antidepressant Lexapro, a month’s supply of the generic version
cost $7 at Costco and $126 at CVS. Rite Aid, grocery stores, and
Walgreens also charged high prices on average, Consumer Reports found.
Generic
Plavix, which is prescribed to people with cardiovascular disease, was also
available at widely varying prices. For example, on the low end, a month’s
supply was available at $12 through Healthwarehouse.com and $15 at Costco,
while CVS quoted $180 when Consumer Reports’ secret shoppers asked about
prices.
For the
market basket of drugs Consumer Reports checked, independent and grocery store
pharmacies’ prices varied widely between stores, sometimes offering the
cheapest and the most expensive price for the same drug.
How to save
- Request the
lowest price. Consumer Reports’ analysis shows that shoppers weren’t
always given the best, lowest price. Make sure you ask.
- Go with
generics. Generics are copies of brand-name medications whose patents have
expired. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires that generics
contain the same active ingredients in the same strength as the brands they
copy. In addition, a generic must be “bioequivalent” to its corresponding
brand, meaning that it delivers the same amount of active ingredients into a
person’s bloodstream in the same amount of time as the original brand.
- Leave the
city and shop in rural areas. Consumer Reports
found that some grocery-store and independent drugstores had higher prices in urban
areas than rural areas. For example, Consumer Reports shoppers priced a
30-day supply of generic Actos at a pharmacy in Raleigh, N.C., for $203, while
another pharmacy in a rural area of the state sold it for $37.
- Get a refill
for 90 days, not 30 days. Most pharmacies offer discounts on a
three-month supply.
- Look for
additional discounts. All chain and big-box drugstores now offer discount
generic-drug programs, with some selling hundreds of generic drugs for $4 a
month or $10 for a three-month supply. Just make sure your drug is on the
list. Offers vary and check the fine print.
The report
is available where magazines are sold, in libraries, and online at www.ConsumerReports.org.
