Reducing High Prescription Copays

Follow up to my last post. As mentioned previously, copays for prescriptions can be higher than you expected. Here is a short list of ways to reduce your copay and save money.

Manufacturer Coupon:

When brand medications are filled at pharmacies, often times they will not be preferred with your prescription plan. Your copay will be higher in this case. The good news is that a lot of manufacturers now offer coupon cards. If you have good insurance that actually covers the medication, these coupons will drop your copay down ever more so. The result is copay that is reasonable compared to what the drug price actually is.

Be sure to do an internet search for “‘Drug name’ coupon.”

Prescription Discount Cards:

These days you can find discount cards for prescriptions all over the internet. Pharmacies will sometimes have discount programs of their own. AAA offers discounts for their members as well. One company even has TV advertisements.

If you have insurance and go to fill a prescription that has a high copay, check the price with some coupons. There are times the resulting price may be lower with the coupon than your prescription plan. If you are a cash paying customer, then you definitely want to look into picking up a discount card. If you need assistance with this, ask the pharmacy staff to help you find one. Click the image to view some discount cards.

Request a Tiering Exception:

If you fill a prescription that is on a higher tier with your insurance, your copay most likely will be high. Check with the pharmacy staff or call your insurance to find out the details. If indeed it is because of the high tier, you can request a tiering exception. This involves you and your physician to fill out paperwork. If approved, your medication will be dropped into a lower tier and your copay will be less. If denied, you can still appeal this decision. Contact your insurance for the specifics on tiering exceptions.

Medicare and Medicaid customers can look here for more info:

https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Appeals-and-Grievances/MedPrescriptDrugApplGriev/Exceptions.html

Change the Medication:

Doctors often will prescribe the newer, more costly medication. Unfortunately this often is not the most cost effective way for you. If you are OK having the doctor give you an alternative, call or have the pharmacy staff call your doctor for a change. Your insurance may even offer alternatives that are covered or preferred. Just because a drug may be older, it does not mean it is not as effective. Most of the time it is cheaper anyhow!

PAAD:

If you are a resident of NJ, you may be eligible to apply for PAAD. This stands for Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled. There are a couple of requirement that must be met to be eligible. If eligible, your copay would be no more than $5 for most generics and $7 for most brands. Check the following link for more information.

https://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/doas/services/paad/index.html

As mentioned before, if you need assistance with any of this, ask your pharmacy staff. They are more than happy to save you money.