The simplest way to save on prescriptions is to ask your pharmacist about generic alternatives, which can cost 20% to 98% less than brand-name versions depending on the medication. But generics are just the starting point. Between discount cards, assistance programs, supply strategies, and recent Medicare changes, most people have at least two or three options they haven’t tried yet.
Switch to Generics First
Generic drugs contain the same active ingredients, in the same doses, as their brand-name counterparts. The savings vary widely by medication. Of the 428 generic drugs the FDA tracked cost data for in 2023, some saw modest price drops under 10%, while others dropped by 78% to 98%. The biggest savings tend to come when the first generic version of a brand-name drug hits the market, with prices continuing to fall as more manufacturers enter the picture.
Not every medication has a generic available, and your doctor may have a clinical reason for prescribing a specific brand. But it’s always worth asking. If your prescription is for a brand-name drug, your pharmacist can tell you whether a generic exists and, if so, contact your prescriber to request the switch.
Use Prescription Discount Cards
Free discount cards from services like GoodRx, RxSaver, and SingleCare negotiate prices with pharmacies on your behalf. You present the card at the counter instead of (not alongside) your insurance, and you pay the negotiated price directly. These cards are especially useful in two situations: when you don’t have prescription coverage at all, or when your insurance deductible is high and you haven’t met it yet. If you don’t expect to hit your deductible, the discount card price will often beat what your plan charges.
One important caveat: the amount you pay through a discount card typically does not count toward your insurance deductible. So if you’re close to meeting your deductible for the year, running the prescription through insurance may save you more in the long run, even if the up-front cost is higher today. Compare both prices at the counter before deciding.
Ask About 90-Day Supplies
If you take a medication regularly, filling a 90-day supply instead of a 30-day supply almost always saves money. Many insurance plans charge the same copay for a 90-day fill as they do for a 30-day fill, which effectively gives you 60 extra days of medication at no additional cost. On a plan with a $4.90 copay, that adds up to roughly $39 in savings per year on a single medication. If you’re on three or four maintenance drugs, the math gets meaningful quickly.
Mail-order pharmacies through your insurance plan frequently offer 90-day fills at reduced rates. Some retail pharmacies match this pricing, so check both options.
Look Into Patient Assistance Programs
Most major drug manufacturers run patient assistance programs that provide medications for free or at steep discounts. Eligibility is based on household income, and the thresholds are higher than many people expect. GSK’s program, for example, covers individuals earning up to $47,880 per year (or $64,920 for a household of two) in most states. Alaska and Hawaii have higher limits. Each manufacturer sets its own criteria, but these income ceilings are common across the industry.
The application process usually requires a prescription from your doctor, proof of income, and information about your current insurance. For Medicare patients, GSK requires that you’ve already spent at least $600 on prescriptions in the current calendar year before you qualify. You’ll need to reapply annually. Programs from Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Lilly, and others follow similar structures. NeedyMeds.org and the Medicare Extra Help program are good starting points for finding which programs cover your specific medications.
Use Manufacturer Copay Cards (If You’re Not on Medicare)
For brand-name drugs that don’t have a generic, manufacturers often offer copay cards that reduce your out-of-pocket cost to $10 or $25 per fill. These are different from patient assistance programs: they’re available regardless of income and work like instant coupons at the pharmacy counter.
There’s a major restriction, though. If you have Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, or any other federal insurance, you cannot legally use manufacturer copay cards. Federal anti-kickback laws prohibit manufacturers from offering financial incentives that could influence purchasing decisions for drugs paid for by government programs. This rule applies even if the copay card would save you significant money. If you have private or employer-sponsored insurance, copay cards are fair game, and they’re usually available on the manufacturer’s website or through your doctor’s office.
Ask Your Doctor About Therapeutic Alternatives
If your current medication is expensive, a different drug in the same class may work just as well and cost far less. Cholesterol medications, blood pressure drugs, antidepressants, and insulins all have multiple options within their categories, and insurance plans price them very differently. A study modeling prescription switching found that patients who moved from a higher-cost insulin to a lower-cost alternative in the same class saved an average of $222 per person.
This isn’t the same as switching to a generic version of the same drug. It’s switching to a different drug entirely, one that treats the same condition through a similar mechanism. Your doctor needs to make this call based on your medical history, but bringing up cost as a factor gives them the opening to consider it.
Take Advantage of the Medicare Out-of-Pocket Cap
If you’re on Medicare Part D, your annual out-of-pocket prescription spending is now capped. The limit was set at $2,000 in 2025 and rises to $2,100 in 2026, adjusted for drug cost inflation. Before this cap existed, Medicare patients taking expensive specialty drugs could face thousands of dollars more in costs once they entered the coverage gap. Now, once you hit the threshold, you pay nothing for covered prescriptions for the rest of the year.
Most Part D plans also offer the option to spread that spending evenly across the year through a monthly payment plan, so you’re not hit with large bills in the first few months when you fill expensive prescriptions.
Try Community Health Centers
Federally qualified health centers, tribal health centers, and similar safety-net clinics participate in a federal program called 340B, which requires drug manufacturers to sell medications to these facilities at deeply discounted prices. To access these prices, you need to be an established patient at the facility, meaning you’ve had at least one documented medical visit there. You don’t need to be uninsured, though these centers primarily serve low-income and underserved communities.
The savings can be substantial, particularly for expensive brand-name drugs. If there’s a community health center near you, it’s worth asking whether their pharmacy or contract pharmacy participates in 340B pricing and whether you qualify as a patient.
Shop Around, Including Warehouse Pharmacies
Prescription prices vary dramatically from one pharmacy to the next, sometimes by hundreds of dollars for the same medication. Costco pharmacies are particularly worth checking: by law, pharmacies inside membership warehouse clubs must serve all customers, even those without a membership. You can walk in and fill a prescription without a Costco card. Members do get access to deeper discounts, but even non-member pricing at Costco often undercuts chain drugstores.
When comparing prices, check at least three places: your regular pharmacy, a warehouse pharmacy, and an online discount card price. The differences can be surprising, especially for medications you take every month.
Verify Online Pharmacies Before Ordering
Mail-order and online pharmacies can offer real savings, but the space is full of fraudulent operations selling counterfeit or unsafe drugs. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy runs an accreditation program for online pharmacies. Legitimate sites carry NABP’s Digital Pharmacy Accreditation and use a .pharmacy web address. Accredited pharmacies are also automatically cleared to advertise on Google, Bing, and major social platforms, so if you found a pharmacy through a search ad, it has likely passed this vetting.
If an online pharmacy doesn’t require a valid prescription, ships from outside the country without clear regulatory oversight, or offers prices that seem impossibly low on brand-name drugs, treat those as red flags.