It Happened to Me: How GoodRx Beats Insurance Copays (As Told by a GoodRx Employee)

We share a lot of stories on our blog about how GoodRx helps our users save on their prescription drugs, but discussions about our own savings often take place in our office, too. One of my co-workers had an interesting experience at the pharmacy recently. Here’s his story:

I work at GoodRx. Since I am a full-time employee, my family receives health insurance (which includes pharmacy benefits) at a cost of about $400 per month.

I’ve always just assumed that having health insurance guarantees me a better price at the pharmacy. GoodRx is great, but I have insurance… right?

Last Friday, I woke up with a bad case of conjunctivitis (pink eye)—yuck. I visited a local doctor, and within five minutes was handed a prescription for the generic version of Maxitrol eye drops. I asked the doctor how much it would cost, to which he said, “I’m honestly not sure.”

I jumped in my car and immediately fired up the GoodRx mobile app to find out how much I would have to pay for my medication. GoodRx told me that one major pharmacy chain sold it for $9.99 through their Prescription Savings Club (no fee), while every other nearby pharmacy was between $15 and $35.

Still, I have insurance, so I knew (or thought) my insurance would be the best price. Would it be $5? Maybe even free? I was just happy that I’d be paying lower than $9.99. I drove to the pharmacy to fill my prescription.

Five minutes later, the pharmacist handed me my prescription and said, “That’ll be $11.96, please.” Now, I know it’s just a few bucks, but that’s about 20% higher than what GoodRx listed—and I pay $400 every month for my insurance!

So I said to the pharmacist, “Wait a second, you have a generic discount program advertised all over the store that offers this drug for $9.99 without any insurance, but WITH insurance, it’s $11.96?” His answer: “I guess so. I didn’t know that could happen.”

I asked him to re-run my prescription with the Savings Club discount and 30 seconds later I paid $9.99 cash, or 20% less, without my insurance.

From now on, I’m checking every prescription on GoodRx. Regardless of my insurance.