GoodRx vs. CostPlusDrugs 💊

Prescription drug prices are out of control, and we have been getting a lot of feedback from employers asking how we can help. This got me thinking, can we save employers more by encouraging employees to use GoodRx or CostPlusDrugs? 

For our purposes, we'll rely on trusty GoodRx and of course Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drug Company to price shop.

According to healthgrades, the top 5 maintenance drugs are:

1. Atorvastatin (treats high cholesterol)
2. Levothyroxine (treats hypothyroidism)
3. Metformin (treats type 2 diabetes)
4. Lisinopril (treats high blood pressure, heart failure, and following a heart attack)
5. Amlodipine (treats high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and angina (chest pain))

When doing a quick search on GoodRx, the cheapest prices for the above drugs are as follows (excluding one-time offers):

1. Atorvastatin ($9.04 at Weis Pharmacy)
2. Levothyroxine ($7.80 at Weis Pharmacy)
3. Metformin ($5.99 at Weis Pharmacy)
4. Lisinopril ($6.28 at Giant Pharmacy; Weis Pharmacy coming in a close second at $6.40)
5. Amlodipine ($5.99 at Weis Pharmacy)

All right, before we look at Cost Plus Drugs' prices, can we give a quick shout-out to Weis Pharmacy? 👏 🍾 🎊🙌🎉 🥂 👏 Wouldn't it be great if there was a solution that could encourage employees in Lancaster PA to go to the cheapest pharmacy to save money? 🤔🤨🧐🙇

Anyway, back to business. Cost Plus Drugs lists the following prices on their website

1. Atorvastatin ($3.60)
2. Levothyroxine ($4.20)
3. Metformin ($3.90)
4. Lisinopril ($3.60)
5. Amlodipine ($3.60)
   

Wow, the hype checks out. Cost Plus Drugs really is the cheapest (at least compared to physical pharmacies in Lancaster, PA) place to get the top 5 prescribed maintenance drugs!

Me being me, I wanted to explore this new, cost-effective option out! First things first, signing up for a CostPlus account! Creating my account and entering my personal information was simple and easy; next up, entering my insurance information. Gah! You don't partner with Highmark Blue Shield, a top 5 BlueCross BlueShield plan? Well, that's a bummer. Who wants to pay for prescriptions out-of-pocket? Probably not anyone who pays for insurance, that's who.

Okay, great. We got a lot done today and we were able to learn a lot. Let's recap some of our findings:

1. Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drug Company is legit - compared to all physical pharmacies in Lancaster, PA, Cost Plus Drug's prices were all cheaper
2. Weis Pharmacy is the place to go if you like getting your prescriptions in person. Out of the 5 drugs we compared, they were the cheapest for all but one and the second cheapest for the other. That savings can add up too. For a 30-day supply of Atorvastatin, the most expensive pharmacy in Lancaster (CVS) was $30.26. That's a difference of $21.22 a month or $254.64 annually! Considering 26,640,141 people are on Atorvastatin, a lot of dough can be saved annually by shopping for the cheapest prices (cough cough $6.7B). Similar cost savings were present with Amlodipine as well.
3. Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drug Company has some work to do before they'll be convincing enough for a big portion of consumers. Seeing that my Highmark insurance wasn't accepted was a big bummer. Hopefully, they'll be able to work together soon!

If you’d like to learn more about what we are doing check out our website and follow our LinkedIn page for updates! 🐶 🚀