It pays to do a little price checking.......

It seems the older I get, the more medications I need. If you looked in my medicine drawer you would see several orange bottles. High blood pressure, thyroid issues, etc. plague me and I have to medicate them. The cost of taking care of yourself has skyrocketed in the last few years along with everything else.

I got my doctor to give me generic prescriptions that are on the $4.00 list at my grocery store. There is no need to pay more for the same drug in the name brand. I found out today how my grocery store and the others who offer discount prescriptions can do it. They are not just being nice to their customers. They are making the difference up with other generics.

I had been perplexed about the cost of a generic medication that I buy regularly. The cost had jumped about $45.00 a month to $183.00 for 30 pills. It seems that every time I refill the prescription, the cost is more. I called the doctor to see about an alternative and there wasn't one. I don't know about you, but $183.00 is real money in our house.

I went to sleep praying about this last night. If you have to buy it, you have to buy it, but dang it, that is just too much money.

I got up this morning with a clear direction as an answer to prayer: call the local, home owned pharmacy and do a price check. As soon as I was finished in the garden, I came home and did just that. I made the phone call.

When the clerk answered the phone I told him I needed to check a price. I gave him the name of the drug, the dosage and the name of the brand name. I told him I wanted the generic version. He was gone a few minutes and when he came back he said: "the price on that drug is $14.92". I was in shock. I asked him to check it again. I spelled the name of the drug and I could hear him talking in the background to his boss. He again said, "it will be $14.92". I asked, "are you sure?" I know he thought I was crazy and he asked, "Mrs. Bryan, what have you been paying for this drug?" My reply: "I don't want to tell you, I am afraid." He laughed. Then I told him: $183.00. Needless to say, he was now the shocked one.

I asked him why the big difference in the price. He said that the big box stores have a corporate office telling them what they have to charge for their medication. The price they pay wholesale isn't always reflected in what they charge the customer. He said that his store adds their profit by their standards and they don't have to deal with anyone but the store owner. He said my refill would be ready by 11:00 a.m. tomorrow.

I am very excited about taking my $14.92 into the drug store tomorrow and walking out with a bottle of medication that I have been paying almost $200.00 for. Just think, if I had known this nine months ago when I first started buying this drug, I would have saved $1521.27. Enough money to pay for a nice trip to Disney World.