Saving Money On Prescriptions

While I was picking up my prescription for allergy medication, I was behind a guy who was probably about 20 years old. He's obviously one of those lucky souls that hasn't had to budget for prescriptions before because he got three months of refills and balked at the cost of about $100.00. After he left, I made a smart comment to the pharmacy assistant that he was lucky not to know what some prescriptions cost. I then paid the nice man $40 for the co-pay for one month of my prescription. Medication is about as exciting to purchase as a vacuum cleaner. You know you have to pay for it, but you really don't want to.

The following is a list of suggestions for keeping those medical costs to a minimum:

• Use ExpressScripts. You can get 3 months of refills for the cost of only 2 co-pays and its delivered to your door. (Its also a publicly traded company and no, I don't own it.)
• If you can, consider generics. Just like everything else, do you really need to pay for the name?
• Take care of yourself. Eating right, drinking water, getting plenty of exercise, keeping control of stress, and having regular check-ups will help save money it the long run.
• Many over the counter medications were once prescriptions. I try to keep my costs down by supplementing with these over the counter medications for part of the year. Make sure you check with your doctor before changing any medications.
• If your company offers a Flexible Spending Account for medical expenses, take advantage of it and budget in your co-pays. This will save you taxes that add up over the year.