Paperboy Johnny Gasparini from Better Off Dead wanted his $2. You should want a $2 deal too.

The U.S. spent $378 billion on prescription medications in 2021 alone. That’s an obscene number, especially when you realize we spent 2.4 times more for drugs than other developed nations that same year, as much as 4.9 times more when it came to brand-name products. If the U.S. could drive down costs, say with $2 prescriptions, Americans could stand a chance and get the care they need.

$2 Prescriptions from Medicare Part D

After the Inflation Reduction Act has been passed in 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services started to explore even more ways to lower the cost of prescription medications. The CMS Innovation Center proposed a number of initiatives, one of which is the Medicare High-Value Drug List Model.

The Medicare High-Value Drug List Model targets Medicare Part D plans. It will establish $2 prescriptions for 150 of the most commonly used generic medications, medications for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and more. Part D plans would not be required to participate.

Together with the $2,000 cap on Part D out of pocket costs that will take effect in 2025 (as part of the Inflation Reduction Act), the Medicare High-Value Drug List Model will offer considerable savings to Medicare beneficiaries.

Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company

Medicare is not alone in attempts to curb prescription drug spending. Mark Cuban disrupted Big Pharma sales when he started his Cost Plus Drug Company. The goal was to take out the middle man and buy low-cost and generic medications directly from the manufacturer.

Cost Plus purchases the drugs at cost and adds a 15% fee to keep the business running. A pharmacy service, TruePill, collaborates with Cost Plus to review the appropriateness of your prescriptions and to deliver your drugs through the mail. There is a $3 pharmacy service fee for each prescription and a $5 shipping fee.

Even with the added charges, what you pay is considerably lower than what you would pay at your local pharmacy. Cost Plus reports savings as high as 90% savings in some cases and offers hundreds of different commonly used medications. The company is building its own pharmaceutical facility in Dallas, TX which may help to drive down prices even further.

Amazon’s RxPass

If you are an Amazon Prime member, you may be able to take advantage of Amazon’s new prescription service, RxPass. It offers low-cost generic medications at $5 per month through the Amazon Pharmacy.

To be clear, that’s a $5 lump sum total for all the medications you take that are on the RxPass eligibility list. If you take one drug, you pay $5. If you take 4 drugs, you still only pay $5. The more medications you take, the greater the savings.

There are no unexpected fees. You will pay your Amazon Prime membership rate of $14.99 per month and your RxPass rate of $5 per month. That’s 19.99 per month, less than $240 per year for all eligible drugs plus all the other Amazon perks that come with Prime. That includes free 2-day delivery.

Catch #1:
There are not a ton of medications on the eligibility list right now. The number of available medications will likely grow over time.

Catch #2:
You are not eligible for RxPass if you are on Medicare or Medicaid.

Catch #3:
You are not eligible for RxPass if you live in CA, LA, MN, NH, PA, TX, or WA.

Be proactive and know that there are ways to get your medication for less.

 

Becerra, X. (2023). Report to the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy A Report in Response to the Executive Order on Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. https://innovation.cms.gov/data-and-reports/2023/eo-rx-drug-cost-response-report

How Much Does the United States Spend on Prescription Drugs Compared to Other Countries? (2022). Peter G. Peterson Foundation. https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2022/11/how-much-does-the-united-states-spend-on-prescription-drugs-compared-to-other-countries

Prescription drug expenditure U.S. 1960-2021. (2021). Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/184914/prescription-drug-expenditures-in-the-us-since-1960/