The Uninsured Patient Experiment - Part Two - Drugs
Posted by Mark on January 16th, 2007
Part two of our experiment found that the variation in the price of generic drugs is three times more variable than the name brand equivalent...it pays to call around!
Inspired by the findings of part 1, I have continued the experiment in another area of healthcare where the consumer can save a lot of money, but often don’t…prescription drugs.
Have you ever shopped around for your prescription drugs? Many organizations recommend that you do, but most people don’t. Generic drugs provide savings over name brands, but be careful, the price of generics can vary by more than three times that of the name brand drug. So there’s more to shopping around then getting the generic, you have to shop around for the best price for the generic also.
Continuing our series on comparative healthcare shopping we decided to see what the price differences were for two commonly prescribed drugs and compare those to generic drugs if they were available. We contacted 30 pharmacies in 5 States (see table 1).
We chose Ceclor and its generic counterpart Cefaclor @ (500 mg) for 30 capsules, (an antibiotic used to treat certain types of infections) as well as Lipitor (a cholesterol lowering drug) @ 20mg for a 30 day supply (30 tablets). Lipitor had no generic substitute. It should be noted that the Ceclor product in most cases is a short term prescription (15 - 30 days), however Lipitor is a drug that you will most likely take for an extended period of time. The findings are once again very enlightening. You could be throwing your money away if you do not shop around!
In our investigation of Ceclor we found prices varied from $168.00 to $123.71 which is a variation of 26.4%. The generic brand, Cefaclor varied from $126.95 to $26.42 a variation of 79.2%! While this generic drug offers significant savings over it’s name brand counterpart your real savings comes from shopping around for your generic choice. Don’t assume that by just accepting a generic substitute from a single pharmacy it will provide your only savings. When we investigated our options for Cefaclor we found that most every pharmacy we contacted mentioned that there was a generic substitute and were very willing to quote the price of the generic. Think about this…if the pharmacy tells you that there is a generic substitute you should then start calling other pharmacies and pricing those generic alternatives also. It may be possible that you can get the lowest price for the generic from another pharmacy. After all if the pharmacy that quoted the generic substitute for Ceclor was $126.95 (highest) by making additional calls you could find a pharmacy that offered the same generic for $26.42 (lowest). Now you have really saved money… over $100 for a single prescription!
Lipitor, which has no generic alternative, varied from $138.99 to $90.00 which is a variation of 35.2%.
The same strategy would hold true. First find out if there is a generic substitute and if there is no alternative you really need to continue to shop around for the best price on the name brand drug. The results are the same. If you shop around and fully understand what your choices are you can achieve the savings that are best for you.
| MA Pharmacies * | City | #30/500mg/ Ceclor | Generic Ceclor | #30/20mg/ Lipitor |
| CVS | Waltham | $168.00 | $64.99 | $138.99 |
| Brooks | Wayland | $169.79 | $69.79 | $134.29 |
| Walgreens | Natick | $149.89 | $71.19 | $131.99 |
| Eaton Apothecary | Natick | doesn’t stock this drug | $56.47 | $131.60 |
| BJ's Wholesale Pharmacy | Framingham | doesn’t stock this drug | $26.42 | $105.10 |
| Tremont Drug | Boston | approx $150 | $126.95 | $133.65 |
| Minnesota Pharmacies | City | #30/500mg/ Ceclor | Generic Ceclor | #30/20mg/ Lipitor |
| Capitol Pharmacy | Minneapolis | doesn’t stock this drug | doesn’t stock this drug | $128.00 |
| Snyder Drug | Roseville | $148.00 | $45.85 | $141.73 |
| Target Pharmacy | Bloomington | $149.99 | $54.49 | $114.99 |
| Medicine Shoppe | Duluth | doesn’t stock this drug | doesn’t stock this drug | $125.99 |
| Kmart | Duluth | $134.97/would have to order | $49.99/would have to order | $122.39 |
| Erickson Drug Inc | Lakeville | doesn’t stock this drug | $37.05 for 60 of the 250mg | $113.88 |
| Nevada Pharmacies | City | #30/500mg/ Ceclor | Generic Ceclor | #30/20mg/ Lipitor |
| CVS/Las Vegas | Las Vegas | $147.99 | $66.99 | $119.99 |
| Albertsons | Reno | $146.00 | $68.99 | $118.69 |
| Longs Drugs** | Sparks | doesn’t stock this drug | $66.95 | $130.00 |
| Village East Drugs | Las Vegas | "~ 3 times the price of generic" | $33.72 | $127.00 |
| Wal-Mart Pharmacy | Carson City | $140.46 | $40.32 | $124.88 |
| Dons Pharmacy | Reno | $144.54 | $78.89 | $122.97 |
| Oregon Pharmacies | City | #30/500mg/ Ceclor | Generic Ceclor | #30/20mg/ Lipitor |
| Ainsworth Drug | Portland | doesn’t stock this drug | doesn’t stock this drug | $144.83 |
| Fred Meyer | Portland | $123.71 | $87.00 | $113.99 |
| Safeway | Eugene | $154.99 | $26.49 | $128.49 |
| Bi-Mart | Eugene | $131.39 | $101.31 | $122.99 |
| Walmart | Klamath Falls | $136.46/would have to order | $38.54 | $101.25 |
| Target | Medford | $142.99 | $54.49 | $114.99 |
| Virginia Pharmacies* | City | #30/500mg/ Ceclor | Generic Ceclor | #30/20mg/ Lipitor |
| Professional Pharmacy | Richmond | $155.90 | $132.20 | $139.30 |
| Rite Aid Pharmacy | Richmond | doesn’t stock this drug | $84.99 | $131.99 |
| Barr's Rexall Pharmacy | Virginia Beach | doesn’t stock this drug | doesn’t stock this drug | $90.00 |
| Eckerd | Virginia Beach | $140.00 | $66.09 | $135.29 |
| Green Valley Pharmacy | Arlington | $137.00 | $121.00 | $125.00 |
| Costco Wholesale Pharm | Arlington | $129.39 | $27.68 | $105.50 |
Consider what you can save by shopping around for Lipitor and look at what the savings are for a one year period. A whopping $587.88 per year. What can that buy over a year?:
- 233 gallons of gas (based on $2.52/gallon)
- 5 weeks of groceries (based on $100/wk)
- 7 doctors office visits (based on $84/visit)
- A weekend away for your family
- 10 months of your electric bill
- 380 gallons of home heating oil
Many times we receive a prescription from our doctor and simply go to our usual pharmacy to have it filled. We want you to recognize that you can save significant amounts of your hard earned dollars by simply knowing what the drug is that you have been prescribed, asking if there is a generic substitute and then shopping around. If it takes you three hours to perform this research you are paying yourself $195.96 per hour. Not a bad rate of pay!
It’s time to start recognizing that we have options and these options are only realized by our diligence in comparative shopping. If you don’t care about the cost of your prescription drugs, then keep throwing your money away, or if you need help spending it, send some my way. Most uninsured people don’t have the luxury of acting this way. If you have a prescription drug plan then you are lucky, because your insurer has already negotiated the best price for you and them. If you are uninsured, there’s no negotiating, but you can shop around to get the best price. You have options…exercise them.
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February 9th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I do believe that patients have the right to find the cheapest prices for their medications. But being a future pharmacist, graduating in May, I see one problem with shopping around. When patients receive medications from multiple pharmacies the drug interaction checks are no longer in place. The patient then must inform the pharmacist about all the other medications they are on. This sometimes does not always happen, and a patient could be at risk of a severe drug interaction. I advocate picking one pharmacy you trust for all of your medications. That way the pharmacist gets to know you and your conditions, which allows them to optimize your drug therapy. I too, am always looking for the cheapest price and calling around might save you money. After calling around ask your pharmacy if they will price match for you. If you do chose to go to another pharmacy though, make sure you let the pharmacist know all the other medications you are taking.