Free prescriptions for a whole year — and more!
Why pay outrageous prices for prescriptions you can get absolutely free? Stores like Harris Teeter, Publix, Walmart, Costco, and others offer special deals on prescriptions that will save you hundreds of dollars a year.
Supermarkets: your best source for free medicine.
Do you take amlodopine, metformin, or lisinopril to treat your high blood pressure or diabetes? Need a 14-day dose of amoxicillin or ampicillin? Just drop off your prescription at a Publix pharmacy, and they won’t cost you a penny.
Publix offers seven common antibiotics for free, as well as diabetes and blood pressure medications. You’ll find similar savings on antibiotics and diabetes drugs at stores like Harris Teeter and Price Chopper.
Harris Teeter requires you to enroll in its Generic Prescription Savings Club, which carries a $4.95 enrollment fee. To receive free diabetes medications at Price Chopper, you’ll have to join the Diabetes AdvantEdge program. No worries, though. You can join that one for free.
And don’t worry about running out of your meds. You can refill these prescriptions throughout the year at no cost.
Big boxers join in on the discounts.
Pay less for your prescriptions at Walmart or Costco when you use their prescription discount cards. Both offer up to 75 percent savings on almost all of your medications. And the cards are free.
Head on over to freedrugcard.com for Walmart’s card or freerxsaver.com for Costco’s. Simply print out the card and present it at the store pharmacy.
Walmart also provides generic medications for $4 and up. For a list of other programs in your home state that offer $4 generic meds, go to NeedyMeds.org, and search under the “patient savings” tab. You just might find one or two freebies or cheapies that you can pick up right around the corner.
Support your local small business.
Don’t forget to call around to your neighborhood pharmacies and supermarkets to ask about freebies, or near-freebies, before you buy.
“Do a bit of comparative shopping,” suggests independent pharmacy owner Jan Smit. “You’ll be surprised to find that for the same prescription you can get a variety of prices.”
And be sure to ask your local pharmacist for a discount, Smit says, because independent pharmacies have more leeway to negotiate prices. “You can talk to the pharmacist and negotiate a good deal on your prescriptions because he’s not bound by corporate rules in determining price.”
Find a bounty of bargains online.
Click away to save time and money on websites like GoodRx.com and Lowestmed.com. Simply enter your ZIP code, and let the internet do the leg work for you. You’ll find free coupons and apps to download, too.
Get help from the drug companies.
To find patient assistance programs that can help with the cost of your meds, search sites like NeedyMeds.org, RxAssist.org, or the Partnership for Prescription Assistance site at pparx.org.
These programs offer free or discounted medicines to people who can’t afford them. Each program has its own guidelines and application process. You’ll find more information about patient assistance programs at healthfinder.gov.
- FC&A Staff Writer
