Save Money With Generics!

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

01 Jul 2006 08:17 AM

Like everything else, the price of prescription (and over the counter) medicine has gone up.

A recent study from the University of Minnesota found that while the costs of name brand drugs have gone up, the price for generic versions of the same drugs have stayed remarkably stable. In 2005 alone, the price for name brand drugs rose more than six percent while the price for generics rose less than one percent.

One thing that was a big surprise to me was that medicine prices vary in different areas. I would never have known if I hadn't moved from New Jersey to Vermont a few years ago for a radio job. At home (without insurance), my prescription Zoloft cost around $90.00 per month. Up in Vermont, the same dose cost me only $70.00 per month. Of course, once my health insurance waiting period was over, I only had to worry about my co-pay.

Co-pay amounts are going up, too. My health insurance company (Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ) divides medicines into tiers. Generics are in the lowest tier, with a co-pay of five dollars. Some name brands are in the middle tier, with a co-pay of ten dollars. Other name brands are in the highest tier, with a co-pay of twenty dollars. Of course my antidepressants are in the top tier; twenty dollars a month beats ninety dollars a month any day! When I first got out of college and joined the working world of grown-ups, I remember my co-pays being ten dollars across the board.

If you want to save money with generic prescription medicines, be sure to ask your doctor and pharmacist if there are generic versions of your medications available. You'll get the same health benefits for less money if the name doesn't matter as much to you.

When choosing a generic over the counter medicine, be sure to compare labels. Check the label on the brand name medicine you would normally buy and find a generic brand that contains the same ingredients in the same amounts. If you want to switch Tylenol for a generic pain medicine, for example, look for acetaminophen. Want Advil in generic form? Look for ibuprofen.

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Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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cbrzez572 (5) 11 Jul 2006 10:24 AM

I find that the new consumer directed health insurance is tricky - a friend of mine had to get an antibiotic immediately, only to find the pharmacy charged $2500! He called the doctor and got a generic for $30. You have to know to ask upfront for generics. What a run around!

Aimee Amodio (11995) 11 Jul 2006 10:31 AM

WOW! That's crazy! And here I am, complaining about $90.00 for medicines... I think I'd break down and cry at the counter at CVS if that happened to me!