Credit: DaytonDailyNews
The cost of getting well is making many people sick. Many lower-income consumers and seniors are not always getting their prescriptions filled because of high prices, according to the U-S Department of Health and Human Services.
"That forces people, particularly seniors on fixed incomes into really tough choices. Do I eat or do i take my medication? Those really aren't the kinds of questions that senior citizens should have to contend with," said State Rep. Fred Strahorn, D-Dayton.
We tracked the prices on some of the most popular medications people take everyday and we found that you can save hundreds of dollars a year by changing how you shop. Even if you do not have insurance, or you are covered under Medicare or Medicaid, we've learned you can still get many prescriptions without breaking the bank.
Most pharmacies sell hundreds of generic medications and some for as little as $4 for a month of pills.
"I prefer doing generics first, if they are available," said Lori Cohen of Kettering. "I believe generics are the same."
"The FDA will not will not release a generic for a brand name medication unless it is A-B rated, which means it is equivalent therapeutically." Dr. Kindy Ghussin, owner of Heartland Pharmacy in Kettering. However, some doctors insist on prescribing brand names in cases where there is a therapeutic difference in the generic.
Dr. Ghussin showed us the price different the popular pain-killer Percocet and the generic, Endocet. "As for the Endocet brand, one hundred pills will run you about $150. If you insist on the brand name, it will run you about $950. So there is about an $800 difference and it works just as good," said Dr. Ghussin.
We also checked the price of a common weight loss drug, Adipex. It costs $25 for thirty generic pills and the brand name sells for $250, ten times more.
If your doctor prescribes a brand name drug, we learned that you can save money by watching where you shop. Our investigation revealed that discount stores typically have the best prices on name brand drugs.
On one day in January, we checked prices for the same prescription for the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor. It sold for $15.44 at Target. The price at CVS was a $1 less and over $3 less at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club.
We find different prices for Ambien. The popular sleep aid sold for $11.60 at Walgreen's. The same prescription could be filled at Kroger for $4 less. You would spend $5 less at Wall-Mart and Sam's Club.
The owner of Heartland Pharmacy in Kettering said it is not easy for a neighborhood pharmacy to compete with the discount stores.
"We're a family-owned pharmacy and I try to keep everything very reasonable," said Dr. Ghussin. He said a good pharmacist will also check the patient's pricing options including insurance, generics and discount cards. "A lot of the time those discount cards really don't work as good as our discounted price," said Ghussin.
Our price scan also found that is it important to buy the right size, especially when it comes to over-the-counter medications.
For example; a 40-count bottle of Advil Liqui Gels sold for $6.99 at CVS the day we checked. We found an 80-count bottle for $8.94 at Target. The best buy was a 160-count bottle of Advil Liqui Gels on sale for $12.99 at Walgreen's.
You also save by buying the store brand over a name brand when it comes to over-the-counter medications. Benadryl sold for $6.99 at Heartland Pharmacy. Sunmark, the store brand, was equivalent at only $2.09.
Lori Cohen said, "I definitely save a lot of money using the store brand and when you compare the ingredients and they're exactly the same ingredients, why not save the money?"
About the Author
