Cost of Medications

The Affordable Care Act helped millions of people get health insurance from their job or the government (Medicare and Medicaid). Insurance helps lower the cost of medications. If you have a high insurance deductible  or do not have prescription insurance, you may have to pay full price for your medications. The cash price, or price without insurance, can differ between pharmacies. Your copay will usually be the same from between pharmacies unless your insurance prefers a certain pharmacy. It is important for you to be able to afford your medications so you can take them every day. ^1-4

What Do All The Insurance Terms Mean?^1-4

How Can I Sign Up For Insurance?³

1. If you have a full-time job:

• Talk with your manager or boss to see if you qualify for health insurance through work.
• Open enrollment is the time that you can purchase commercial insurance plans.
  • Open enrollment usually occurs from the beginning of November until the middle of December.

2. If you are not actively working and are under 65 years old:

• You may qualify for Medicaid – visit Medicaid.gov to see if you meet the requirements
• Medicaid plans vary depending on which state you live in
  • Many of these plans will only cover services in your home state
  • You can enroll in a Medicaid plan at any time

3. If you are not actively working and are over 65 years old or have a disability:

• You may qualify for Medicare – visit Medicare.gov to see if you meet the requirements
• Medicare has different coverage parts including A, B, C, & D
  • Medicare part D is your prescription drug coverage
• You can initially enroll in Medicare at any time, but changes can only be made during open enrollment
  • Open enrollment is typically between October to December

What Can I Do If My Medication Costs Too Much? ^4-7

1. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about other medication choices. There may be a cheaper medication that would work as well as a more expensive one.
2. Talk to your doctor about medication samples. If available, they might be able to give these to you for no charge.
3. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about patient assistance programs or coupons for your medications.
4. Use your insurance as much as possible to meet your deductible quicker.
5. Check to see if the drug company offers a coupon. If there is no coupon for the medication from the drug company, try a prescription savings service.

• Options of companies with prescription savings include (but are not limited to):

** have phone apps available

• You cannot use insurance with a coupon from a savings service (like GoodRx and SingleCare), but you can sometimes use insurance with a coupon from the drug company.^6-7
• Print out or bring coupons to the pharmacy when you pick up your medication. The coupons have special codes that go with your medication. ^6-7

6. Some pharmacies may have their own generic discount programs. Talk with your pharmacist about options.

What Personal Information Do I Need To Provide For Prescription Savings Services? ^6-7

Most savings services just need the name of the medication to give you a coupon. Do not give your personal information

Last Reviewed: October 2024

Provided by

Jenna Stearns, PharmD, December 2020

To view the references for this resource, please visit aapp.org/471590.

Important Disclosure: This information is being provided as a community outreach effort of the American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists. This information is for educational and informational purposes only and is not medical advice. This information contains a summary of important points and is not an exhaustive review of information about the topic. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified medical professional with any questions you may have regarding medications or medical conditions. Never delay seeking professional medical advice or disregard medical professional advice as a result of any information provided herein. The College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists disclaims any and all liability alleged as a result of the information provided herein.

©2024 The American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists (AAPP). AAPP makes this document available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Last Updated: January 2016.