Pharmacy quotes $400.00 for Rx. Take a coupon from,say GoodRx, and it’s 13.95. What’s going on????
Pharmacy quotes $400.00 for Rx. Take a coupon from,say GoodRx, and it’s 13.95. What’s going on????
Pharm Tech here. The simplest way it was explained to me, was that it's used as an alternative to insurance companies. Retailers have contracts with GoodRx and are able to split the profits and cut out insurers by offering lower co-pays. Only, if you hit your deductible then insurance will be better
The enlightening aspect of this example is that without insurance interference the $400 Rx goes to $14 and the retailer still makes a profit.
someone is ripping you off somewhere!
With drug prices the way they are in America, I'd be more surprised if we weren't getting ripped off.
So, by retailers making contracts with these discount programs, they still make the money that would otherwise be paid out by insurance companies by marking up acquisition costs. Nothing really changes.
Thank you. Split what profits? Who else is paying? Why?
My guess would be that GoodRX has a contract with pharma companies to partially cover the cost of meds, or they’re running a program where your first few coupons are free to access but then a membership fee is required Plus all of the website ads and client clicks drive revenue
We're not really privileged with a whole lot of information of the under workings of programs like these. It still took some research for me. Even then, this is still just a best guess with how these discounts work with the experience I have.
Hi Sev, I'm following you now. Could you please write regularly about details like this that you know on your feed? I think it would be greatly informative for the rest of us. Thanks!
Thanks for the follow, but that's really all there is on this. Unless there's anything else I can try to answer for you not pertaining to discount programs but still in the arena of retail pharmacy.
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So, paying $13.95 from a $400 medication is a little bit of an exaggeration, but GoodRx does take the cost down to a "manageable" copay. That cost is still well above the acquisition cost of the medication. So a profit is still made. GoodRx gets a share, and a fraction of that goes to the retailer.
It’s not an exaggeration actually. Still don’t get it, sorry. Not for your lack of trying. I think part of it is a calculation on their part on how bad do you want the med? GoodRx gets a share of what? From whom?
Yeah, I wish I could help more. That's about all I was able to glean from the information I was able to find and from my work experience.
As a side note, GoodRx was found to have been sharing personal health information and has been sued in the past. So it's likely that they were also being paid to sell your information.
Good luck with any info on me. 😁