GoodRx Offers Good Savings

There are quite a few websites and apps available that promise to get you the best price on your medication. But there was one that came out on top, according to Consumer Reports.

Mark Weber takes a monthly medication to treat bipolar disorder.  He works part-time and doesn't have insurance.

"Unless you've got a full-time job, there are an awful lot of employers who don't offer benefits for a part-time employee," Weber said.

Weber has been on the medication for 15 years and pays about $70 per month.  But then he discovered GoodRx and found that he can get it for $22 a month; that's a 67 percent savings. 

"It's kind of discouraging to know all these years you could have been paying a heck of a lot less and it's a Godsend to somebody like me that this website has come along," Weber said.

GoodRx is a California-based website that asks patients to put in their zip code and the drug's name and they get a price range.  GoodRx has a database of more than 1 million drug prices for 6,000 drugs. 

We typed in the popular cholesterol medication, Lipitor, for Sioux Falls.  Thirty doses of 20 milligrams of the brand name drug were lowest at $184.42 at Hy-Vee for one month's supply.  It was highest at Walgreens at $188.59.

The generic version of the drug at the same dose was a fraction of the cost, running $15 to $20 depending on location. 
GoodRx also comes in an app for your smart device.   And the app offers money-saving tips, such as joining the Lipitor For You program, for a $4 co-pay. 

Weber says for people like him without insurance, it's about time.

"This could be a real boom for consumers.  And the best thing I like about it is it doesn't take an act of Congress, that private enterprise has solved, if enough people know about it, has solved another problem and Democrats and Republicans don't have to fight about this," Weber said.

There are a few other apps out there that promise to save you money on prescription drugs.  But Consumer Reports says LowestMed, Mobile Rx Card and Pocket Doctor didn't stack up compared with GoodRx.