A man is going viral on TikTok after sharing how the prescription cost-saving service GoodRx saved him hundreds of dollars.
Magicmansteve (@magicmansteve1), a business coach and travel expert, says he usually refills his prescriptions at Walgreens. But when he attempted to buy his latest prescription, he says he was thwarted.
“My pharmacist [at] Walgreens just told me they didn’t fill my prescription because my insurance doesn’t cover it,” the Walgreens customer says.
He explains that normally, when Walgreens gets his prescriptions, he receives a note saying that it’s being worked on. This time, he allegedly didn’t receive the notification.
“The girl said, ‘Well why should we? We know it’s not going to be accepted,’” the man recounts. He also adds that the pharmacist informed him that the out-of-pocket cost for the prescription was more than $350.
This led the customer to search for coupons to help lower the cost.
“I go to GoodRx … and it’s $29.99 at Walgreens with the app,” he says, adding, “[GoodRX] saved me a few hundred bucks. You gotta do your homework—or maybe find another pharmacy.”
GoodRx provides discounts on prescription drugs
According to Marketplace, there are a number of companies that offer discounts and coupons on prescription drugs. GoodRx is one of them, but other sites that offer similar services include SingleCare and RxSaver.
Customer looking to save a couple bucks on their next prescription should search for the drug on the company’s app or website. If it’s there, customers will then be shown a list of pharmacies where the coupon is usable.
As an example, Marketplace says that 30 tables of the pill atorvastatin cost just $2.60 with a GoodRX coupon at Vons. The retail price, however, is 18 times the cost at $46.
Discount companies are able to pass savings on to customers because they work with pharmacy benefits managers (PBM). PBMs are middlemen in the drug supply chain and they negotiate prices with manufacturer’s on the insurer’s behalf. So, if a customer pays $20 for a prescription, the PBM might collect $6 (which it splits with GoodRx) and the pharmacy will receive the remaining $14.
PBMs benefit from partnering with companies like GoodRx since they see additional revenue from uninsured patients. But independent pharmacies don’t always benefit from these deals. As a result, some have begun their own rival discount programs.
Viewers question America’s health insurance system
As of Monday, the TikToker’s post had amassed more than 296,500 views. In the comments, a number of viewers questioned why they should even buy into insurance programs if GoodRx offers coupons to everyone.
“My chemo meds were $800+ on my insurance… it was $86 on a good RX coupon,” one user shared, before asking, “Why do I even have insurance???”
“Yes good RX is a great tool sometimes. But it just makes me laugh. If they can sell it at the discounted price, just make it that price for everyone,” another pointed out.
@magicmansteve1 #badpharmacist #pharmacy #priceguaging #walgreens #medicine #obamacare ♬ original sound – Magicmansteve
Other viewers who work in pharmacies, however, explained why the Walgreens pharmacist was so unhelpful. They claim that pharmacists often won’t—or can’t—disclose that customers can get their prescriptions much cheaper using sites like GoodRx.
“Walgreens will not allow their employees to look up coupons or discount cards for you unfortunately. If you present it we can run it,” one viewer stated.
“As a pharmacy tech it’s up to the patient to provide a good rx coupon,” another added.“We can either fill prescriptions as cash or add a standard coupon to it as we bill you.”
“It’s the patients job to ‘do their homework’ and find a coupon. Pharmacy should tell you it’s not covered, but it’s up to you about how you proceed,” a third said.
The Daily Dot reached out to the creator via TikTok comment and to GoodRx and Walgreens by email.
Update 6:45pm, Nov. 23, 2024: In a statement to the Daily Dot, Cindy George, the senior personal finance editor at GoodRx, said that GoodRx is available to anyone and free of charge—regardless of whether they’re insured. “Prices for prescription medications can be very different from one pharmacy to another,” she said. “GoodRx works by aggregating all these prescription price points (over 320 billion data points daily!) from across the healthcare industry to help people easily find the lowest prescription prices near them.” George said that GoodRx users can see medicine pricing and available discounts for more 70,000 pharmacies nationwide. Coupons are available via text or email, which you can show on your device or print out to present at the pharmacy.
“Unfortunately, having health insurance isn’t a guarantee that your medication will be covered or affordable. Over the last decade, insurance plans have covered a declining share of prescription medications and have placed more restrictions on what’s covered,” George said. “So even if you have health insurance, checking GoodRx prices when you get a prescription could save you money—as this TikTok creator learned and shared.”
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