A friend who is a savvy bargain hunter and an amazing personal shopper (seriously, I would pay this girl to help me find clothes) recently discovered an incredible deal right below her nose.I wanted to share this story with you because there are probably a lot of misinformed people out there, like I was prior to last Friday afternoon, and this could potentially save people some serious cash.
Where to start? I have IBS…which manifests itself daily if I’m eating anything other than rice or oatmeal, in a very painful call for attention. Because of this, I take (anti-spasmodic) pills to eat pretty much every meal. I had to up my dosage on my own a few months ago because one wasn’t doing the trick–DR is fine with this, but my insurance will only cover 120 pills every 30 days. I take a minimum of 6 pills a day, you do the math.
I have been paying out of pocket for this…it’s about $40, which isn’t bad, considering it’s the difference between a great meal and just eating oatmeal 3 times a day. But $40 adds up. My DR suggested I try Costco for the prescription and said 120 pills should run about $30-40. I figured if that was the going rate, I would just be lazy and keep paying CVS. He wrote me a paper prescription anyway, should I ever want to try Costco.
I decided to call Costco, for s—s and giggles, to see how much they charged. The nice Costco pharmacy girl looked it up and said, “Seven twenty-three”.“Excuse me, can you repeat that? I think you just said seven, as in DOLLARS, but I want to make sure you didn’t say seventy?”“Nope, SEVEN DOLLARS AND TWENTY THREE CENTS”.“WHAT?! Are you joking? I’ve been paying CVS $40 for that prescription!”“Yeah, we get that a lot. Are you a Costco memeber?”“No, I’m not.”“That’s fine, but if you were the scrip would cost FIVE DOLLARS”.“I think I can swing the $7. I’ll be RIGHT over.”Click.So I dropped off my prescription and didn’t even bother giving them my insurance card because my scrip plan is $10…and, well, $7 is better than that! I waited 30 minutes (in the book section…i could spend a whole day there!)…and got my scrip for $7.I realize this is way long for the conclusion here, but I’ve probably paid out of pocket for that scrip at least 5-6 times since I started having to do that in April. Which means I have given CVS approximately $240…when I could have saved $198 if I’d gone to Costco in the first place.CVS NO MORE!!The moral: for people who don’t have prescription plans or who have to pay out of pocket for some meds, chances are it’s cheaper at Costco.Also, you DO NOT have to be a Costco member in order to get prescriptions there! I’m thinking this might be a little known fact. Or that I am the last idiot to know.The only problem is if you are waiting around for your scrip(s) and killing time walking around the store seeing all the good deals on food, clothes, booze, books, etc…that prescription might cost you an additional $50-$100 for the membership and the cost of whatever it is you’ve found while waiting that you just HAVE TO BUY, because you cannot buy anything without the card…just prescriptions.THE END.
(sorry for the novel)
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Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price.
Thank you for sharing this discovery with these readers. I can confirm everything stated.
My father – who is a Costco member – thought that through his seniors medical plan he was forced to buy his Rx through their mail-in program. Just by being curious he learned that a medication that cost him hundreds of dollars every 3-months renewal would cost about *1/7th* at Costco Pharmacy. IT CANNOT HURT TO CHECK!!
I heard this weekend that you might actually be able to buy booze without a membership, as well. This is unconfirmed, but it does make sense to me, as charging people to buy booze may not be allowed under their liquor selling license…charging people to buy booze could be considered like a bar, which, of course, is not what Costco does (ie: SERVE alcohol), so there may not be any legal way around that one.
Can anyone confirm this? If so, I’d say it’s a fairly well-kept secret, but could save lots of people money while preparing for that backyard BBQ or at-home wine tasting!
I must say, I am not a fan of a different color pill, even if it is darn near free. OUR FOOD CAN BE OUR PHARMACY. The more colorful we make our meals with fresh food, the more vitamins. Food combining can do wonders for digestion problems as well.
I hate to say but… a colored pill can kill.
Costco is the best – I get 90 days of a generic prescription for significantly less than the $10 charged by Wal-Mart for the same thing. Always check Costco first!
I left CVS around the time they did the conversion from Sav-Ons. Not once but 3 separate times my dentist called in my prescription. I would wait 3-4 hours, even a day later to pick up my order. I always had to wait because the order was never filled. The third time was my last time & had my precriptions transferred to Costco. It’s been @ least a coupla years now. I also reward myself w/Costco’s $1.50 Hot Dog Deal w/a refillable 20 0z. drink. “Just lovin it.” I’m not a memeber either… Nguk! Nguk! Nguk!
I just had Costco’s $1.50 smoothie yesterday for the first time. It’s quite tasty, and as my Mom says, I don’t know if this is the same as Jamba Juice, but it tastes just like it!
I haven’t gotten my RX at Costco for a long time, mainly because of convenience, but they are definitely a good buy. Also look into Target which is where I go. Many of their RX are $4 for generic, and it is so convenient, since you can call in and pick up.
Sam’s Club Pharmacy is the same as Costco…you do not have to be a member to use their pharmacy and I have found them to be less expensive than Costco on many Rx…call and check price of both! One Rx I had was $92.00 at Sam’s and $106.00 at Costco!
My elderly Cocker Spaniel had chronic eye diseases—glaucoma and cataracts. Her meds, the same used by humans, were very expensive. At COSTCO, I paid 1/3 the price and had great service. The pharmacist told me they fill many veterinary prescriptions.
Costco definitely has among the lowest costs for prescriptions on most drugs. However, if your insurance plan (like mine) uses CVS for its scrips, Costco is often unable to compete, as the insurer will not OK more than one month’s worth of pills, even if they’re regularly prescribed for something like hypertension. My co-pay for my meds is the same at both places.
Well, I thought this too good to be true. I just called to find out the 3-month supply price of Lipitor and found it to be $369.92 at Costco. We pay just $50 through our mail order pharmacy.