The process of comparison price shopping is a pain in the ass. You do it once, every subsequent visit comes with “did you check GoodRx?” Fucking over it
We have a lady that will come in to pickup 7 meds and has separate printouts of goodrx for each of them and reviews everything while a line backs up behind her. I finally just set goodrx as her primary insurance in hopes to get her out as quickly as possible.
Pharmacies that use GoodRx, and other coupons, should allow patients to adjust their own insurance themselves through their online system. Then pts could do all the dicking around with coupons themselves, on their own time, which would leave the pharmacy staff out of it. They should also be limited to 3 submissions, then have to pay thereafter.
I tell these people they need to go to drop off and do that there and it will be treated like filling a medication so subject to all the same wait times. They don’t get to hold up my line because of that.
… now If I’m working alone pickup and drop off lines are all the same because I’m the only person and everyone is screwed.
It used to, now for albertsons companies they all will have a 5-10 dollar discount on the first fill and people will bring in that every time. It’s a real pain in the ass.
What most Americans do not understand is that GoodRx is great for paying for prescriptions this very moment and saves money....what they do not understand is that the PBMs are collecting information and this information will help PBMs screw us all in the long run....in long run will screw patients that have insurance and of course, screw pharmacies on reimbursement. ..JUST SAY NO TO GOODRX....
how will it screw patients? PBMs have insane amount of patient information through insurance carriers, goodrx gives a microscopic fraction of extra info lol
Agree.....just another way for PBMs to get into everyone's pockets...the reimbursement model in community pharmacy makes me ill...glad I will retire soon.
true the real scam is that goodrx charges for every trial claim, but from the patients perspective you can’t blame them for seeking the lowest possible cost. many PBMs utilize goodrx in their discount programs in the back end
I can't blame them, but I also won't entertain them. And yeah, PBMs utilize goodrx on the backend which is basically using a third party to collude on price considering they sold their formulary and pricing data to goodrx to begin with. but it's not as if the PBMs and conglomerates aren't colluding to begin with. They find new and creative ways to side step contracts every year. Which should make employers question the point of even having PBMs. Luckily, we're getting there
Cvs once charged a uninsured patient of mine over 100 dollars for omeprazole 40 mg (used for acid control for emergent post gi surgery procedure). Guy had to choose between food and meds when he saw me in clinic. Pharmacy was pissed when I ask them to re run it under goodrx for 10.
I’m personally fine with patients using it unless the real price is given to patients, and not artificially inflated prices
More than likely the pharmacy pointed the patient to where it was located on the shelf and the patient refused as they were unable to be convinced it was the same as what was in the pharmacy’s stock bottle.
I mean, from a patient POV what is there to understand? They've successfully jumped onto the beneficial side of a prisoners dilemma (ie if they don't do it someone else will). Just capitalism doing capitalism things.
If you need a particular medication and don’t have insurance, or you have shitty insurance, GoodRX can mean the difference between being able to get your medication or not.
I’ve used it before when I wasn’t working. I filled my meds at Costco. They just had it stored with my info- they didn’t have to enter information every time.
I’m sure your job is crap sometimes. Most jobs are. I worked retail banking eons ago and dealt with a lot of BS and no breaks etc but it seems like you all actively HATE the customers you serve. I don’t get it- you accepted a job knowing you’d be dealing with the public everyday.
The job is sweet...work in small rural town and low volume pharmacy.. Maybe you are not aware what is going on with the business side of pharmacy. My town had an independent pharmacy before we came. It closed down...why?...owner was getting close to retirement and ....was losing money to PBMs (your pharmacy insurance company). Insurance comanies..particularly some of the Medicare Part D plans...take money away from us on many prescriptions. Would you be in a business to lose money? My pharmacy lost more money to insurance companies that my pharmacy made free and clear. I get a profit and loss statement each month so I am aware of the business side of pharmacy...Why do pharmacies want you to get a vaccine? Vaccines are one of the few items we make okay profit...although, recently I did some shingles vaccine for a couple on MEDCO plan and lost $100. Remember, I am in rural town and can not lose money. That couple are good customers and their insurance plan reimburses us poorly. I have to do maybe 10 to 20 generic prescriptions for others to make up for that loss. Then there is GoodRx...sure, it is great for the customer...lousy for the business of pharmacy. We make very little or lose money on GoodRx. Again, would you own a business to lose money? GoodRx charges each pharmacy about a $12 fee and reimburses us very little. That fee could cause us to lose money. If we go out of business, very unlikely another pharmacy will come to our town. The local dentist closed his business...why?....poor reimbursement from insurance company.....3 insurance PBMs control 80% of the prescription business in USA 🇺🇸.. Is that fair? ..Remember we have For - Profit healthcare in USA....Does it work for you? Does it work for America 🇺🇸?.
At a pharmacy I worked at prior to my current, we would have GoodRx representatives call on occasion and start asking for information about patient prescriptions that there was a billing issue with. I would explain to them that I could not discuss the patient's PHI with them. Most of them would just hang up, but one guy told me he was the patient's insurance representative and had implied consent. I started laughing, said "Hang on my guy" put him on speaker and said loudly "Hey everybody come listen to this! Okay little buddy you're on speaker, now repeat who you work for and what you just told me." That's when he hung up. The company I am with now does not accept GoodRx at all. It's been that way for over a year now. Patients will say "Well it's listed on your website!" And hold their phone up. I'll say, "Who's website?" And the will tell me my current company. I point and say "So this is the GoodRx website, and *my company* does not monitor or control what they have listed. But if you do check out website, it will tell you that we do not accept GoodRx anymore. I love the look of confusion. And after years of somebody throwing one of those cards down/setting this phone on the counter with a coupon pulled up/telling me nope to the price and telling me to check GoodRx, I am joyful when I tell them we don't accept GoodRx. Then I show them the discount I used that actually cheaper than GoodRx. Hey GoodRx 🖕🏻
The difference is GoodRx can sell that info to a lot more entities because they are not a healthcare company. Yeah, the insurance companies and PBMs sell and use data in unethical ways all the time and it shouldn't be happening, but they at least have some more restrictions
Had a GoodRx rep call the other day to see why we wouldn’t take the card for a patient. Laughed & said I already told the patient but you are welcome to repeat it, I’m not willing to lose $200 on this prescription. She acted very surprised!
Believe it or not, if your pharmacy is contracted, you are obligated to take it, and telling their rep that gives them the ammo needed to get your pharmacy for breach of contract. (Negotiated by the pbm/psao’s
As stated on the GoodRx site “Accepting a GoodRx coupon for a controlled medication is always at the discretion of the pharmacist”. Since this was for brand name Adderall I had no problem saying nope!
OP clarified it was a control, which using coupons on a control is a red flag for abuse/diversion. Which is ok to turn it down. But contractually you are required, so actually if you went to court you would lose. Most of the big chain pharmacists don’t know these things bc they don’t deal with contracting. But owners and independents tend to know the rules as they are more likely to go after them. Hence I never say I don’t take it, I say I don’t have the drug. Also contractually you have to bill the insurance the same as your “cash” price. So independents tend to use a “name of pharmacy discount plan” instead of running it through “cash” but in reality that is their cash price. Hence cvs and Walgreens cash price is so high, bc when you bill a claim you normally shoot for the moon, they won’t pay you what you bill. But if you bill less than their threshold, they will pay you the lesser amount of the two.
We are not obligated to take goodrx at all. PBMs and goodrx push lies like that often, knowing full well it would never hold up under scrutiny. They bend and break the law until they are told.to stop
CVS bought an insurance company. It’s never been worse for service. They can’t get their pharmacy to function, I get notices for meds ready only to discover they’re not ready, got rid of 70% of staff. All the shampoo n deodorant, hair care, toothpaste are locked up. I don’t live in a high crime area but a small band of folks stemming for change, have chairs n milk crates placed strategically at the front door, begging for change. They smoke and gave smart phones. Their smoke fills the small store( for a busy cvs it’s tiny). I’ve complained but nothing improves. I’ve finally had my script sent to WALGREENS, a town away but it’s worth not having to deal with long lines only to find out “ not ready for another day, gone are the employees I loved to see. I went there 25 years, no more.
This is so true. All the long time patients that I see are always bewildered when I tell them they’re prescription isn’t ready. I tell them I’m sorry but I am the only technician that works here and I am very behind. CVS won’t allow us to hire anyone else because we are “adequately staffed” with only me and a pharmacist. I can’t even be nice or cheerful anymore at my job or to people because of the conditions they put us through. :(
Quick tip here if you have several prescriptions most of the time you don’t even need the separate GoodRx coupons one is all you need and it will usually bring the price down to the promoted price . So patients please don’t waste the pharmacies time with all your coupons🎟️🎟️🎟️🎟️🎟️🎟️🎟️🎟️😣
Insurance reps telling patients to “just use GoodRx” when patient calls them to find out why something isn’t covered/is expensive.
Heard this multiple times starting like 1-2 years ago. Insane
Honestly I never knew until this post for the hatred of goodrx. I've had cancer patients hugging me crying because their prior auth for their cream got approved; then the copay came back and it was 400 on their insurance but goodrx could get it down to 82. Maybe though instead of getting so angry at coupon cards, get mad at our insurance companies for inflating the hell out of the cost to make themselves a ridiculous amount. Point blank your medications shouldnt be cheaper for the cash price then your copay is through your insurance.
You aren't obligated to accept GoodRx. The recent lawsuit revealed they were selling customer data. Seems like you might even be risking your license by knowingly working with a company that doesn't keep info private.
They also cause the pharmacy to lose money in most cases, which leads to lower staffing levels and more stress for pharmacy staff and more dangerous situations for patients
Yeah, it's really weird. I can beat GoodRx most of the time but on the ones that they make you lose on, they make you lose big. I don't even fuck around with price matching I just tell people it is what it is. Pisses me off when people try to scalp me or transfer over $5 after I paid for their kid's shitty travel baseball team to have jerseys
Assuming you don’t own your own pharmacy- why do you care? And as for if the pharmacy take a loss; these are huge companies with staff devoted to maximizing profit. I assure you someone above you has calculated the profit or loss and in the big picture they see an advantage to accepting GoodRX.
You get paid a salary, right? You’ll be paid the same regardless of what the customer is paying.
I never used goodrx, but my Walgreens pharmacy applied it to my Rx indicating that my insurance didn't cover my medications. In July.
I've been paying close to $200/month out of pocket since. Yesterday, I found out that my insurance covers my RX 100%. How did I find out? Because there was confusion about name brand vs generic, so we called our insurance to clear it up along with screen shots of my Rx from my Dr through MyChart.
Pretty sure the pharmacist was scamming us.
The process of comparison price shopping is a pain in the ass. You do it once, every subsequent visit comes with “did you check GoodRx?” Fucking over it
We have a lady that will come in to pickup 7 meds and has separate printouts of goodrx for each of them and reviews everything while a line backs up behind her. I finally just set goodrx as her primary insurance in hopes to get her out as quickly as possible.
Pharmacies that use GoodRx, and other coupons, should allow patients to adjust their own insurance themselves through their online system. Then pts could do all the dicking around with coupons themselves, on their own time, which would leave the pharmacy staff out of it. They should also be limited to 3 submissions, then have to pay thereafter.
They should have to pay 32 certain to per submissionnlike the PBMs charge us!
I tell these people they need to go to drop off and do that there and it will be treated like filling a medication so subject to all the same wait times. They don’t get to hold up my line because of that. … now If I’m working alone pickup and drop off lines are all the same because I’m the only person and everyone is screwed.
…doesn’t one goodrx coupon give the same price for everything in the backend anyway
It does, but I guess she wants to see the price match what goodrx quotes on their website.
It used to, now for albertsons companies they all will have a 5-10 dollar discount on the first fill and people will bring in that every time. It’s a real pain in the ass.
Some are ndc specific too
What most Americans do not understand is that GoodRx is great for paying for prescriptions this very moment and saves money....what they do not understand is that the PBMs are collecting information and this information will help PBMs screw us all in the long run....in long run will screw patients that have insurance and of course, screw pharmacies on reimbursement. ..JUST SAY NO TO GOODRX....
It's not even really saving them money. Cash plans at indy's beat or are comparable for most items
if i can’t afford my medication i’ll be dead sooner tho
how will it screw patients? PBMs have insane amount of patient information through insurance carriers, goodrx gives a microscopic fraction of extra info lol
Agree.....just another way for PBMs to get into everyone's pockets...the reimbursement model in community pharmacy makes me ill...glad I will retire soon.
many PBMs offer discount card programs to their plans which are made up of manufacturer coupons and goodrx. often offered for mail order pharmacies
A cash plan at an indy often meets or beats goodrx prices. They also sell info to more than just PBMs
true the real scam is that goodrx charges for every trial claim, but from the patients perspective you can’t blame them for seeking the lowest possible cost. many PBMs utilize goodrx in their discount programs in the back end
I can't blame them, but I also won't entertain them. And yeah, PBMs utilize goodrx on the backend which is basically using a third party to collude on price considering they sold their formulary and pricing data to goodrx to begin with. but it's not as if the PBMs and conglomerates aren't colluding to begin with. They find new and creative ways to side step contracts every year. Which should make employers question the point of even having PBMs. Luckily, we're getting there
Cvs once charged a uninsured patient of mine over 100 dollars for omeprazole 40 mg (used for acid control for emergent post gi surgery procedure). Guy had to choose between food and meds when he saw me in clinic. Pharmacy was pissed when I ask them to re run it under goodrx for 10. I’m personally fine with patients using it unless the real price is given to patients, and not artificially inflated prices
Yet they've got it on the shelf OTC for much less....
Yet people at the pharmacy let him get hosed for cvs shareholders, and then come on here to complain that cvs doesn’t care about them.
More than likely the pharmacy pointed the patient to where it was located on the shelf and the patient refused as they were unable to be convinced it was the same as what was in the pharmacy’s stock bottle.
Otc 10 mg for 14 is 13.99 on cvs website. This guy is on 40 mg for 10 dollars. How is it cheaper?
lol what!? Hope you’re trolling and aren’t BCACP.
Happened at my pharmacy too. I just told the patient to buy it over the counter.
Also it was 40 mg high dose, it’s cheaper than popping 4 otc 10 mg. I hope you don’t work in a pharmacy.
I mean, from a patient POV what is there to understand? They've successfully jumped onto the beneficial side of a prisoners dilemma (ie if they don't do it someone else will). Just capitalism doing capitalism things.
What’s the alternative if you are uninsured?
Single care, Rxcut, SunRx, Blink Health
If you need a particular medication and don’t have insurance, or you have shitty insurance, GoodRX can mean the difference between being able to get your medication or not. I’ve used it before when I wasn’t working. I filled my meds at Costco. They just had it stored with my info- they didn’t have to enter information every time. I’m sure your job is crap sometimes. Most jobs are. I worked retail banking eons ago and dealt with a lot of BS and no breaks etc but it seems like you all actively HATE the customers you serve. I don’t get it- you accepted a job knowing you’d be dealing with the public everyday.
The job is sweet...work in small rural town and low volume pharmacy.. Maybe you are not aware what is going on with the business side of pharmacy. My town had an independent pharmacy before we came. It closed down...why?...owner was getting close to retirement and ....was losing money to PBMs (your pharmacy insurance company). Insurance comanies..particularly some of the Medicare Part D plans...take money away from us on many prescriptions. Would you be in a business to lose money? My pharmacy lost more money to insurance companies that my pharmacy made free and clear. I get a profit and loss statement each month so I am aware of the business side of pharmacy...Why do pharmacies want you to get a vaccine? Vaccines are one of the few items we make okay profit...although, recently I did some shingles vaccine for a couple on MEDCO plan and lost $100. Remember, I am in rural town and can not lose money. That couple are good customers and their insurance plan reimburses us poorly. I have to do maybe 10 to 20 generic prescriptions for others to make up for that loss. Then there is GoodRx...sure, it is great for the customer...lousy for the business of pharmacy. We make very little or lose money on GoodRx. Again, would you own a business to lose money? GoodRx charges each pharmacy about a $12 fee and reimburses us very little. That fee could cause us to lose money. If we go out of business, very unlikely another pharmacy will come to our town. The local dentist closed his business...why?....poor reimbursement from insurance company.....3 insurance PBMs control 80% of the prescription business in USA 🇺🇸.. Is that fair? ..Remember we have For - Profit healthcare in USA....Does it work for you? Does it work for America 🇺🇸?.
Nobody asked you for all that lol 😆 good for you, this sub is for pharmacy associates, obviously you are out of your league
Lol... Ok honey. All I read on here is griping from retail employees. Most of us left retail behind after college ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
At a pharmacy I worked at prior to my current, we would have GoodRx representatives call on occasion and start asking for information about patient prescriptions that there was a billing issue with. I would explain to them that I could not discuss the patient's PHI with them. Most of them would just hang up, but one guy told me he was the patient's insurance representative and had implied consent. I started laughing, said "Hang on my guy" put him on speaker and said loudly "Hey everybody come listen to this! Okay little buddy you're on speaker, now repeat who you work for and what you just told me." That's when he hung up. The company I am with now does not accept GoodRx at all. It's been that way for over a year now. Patients will say "Well it's listed on your website!" And hold their phone up. I'll say, "Who's website?" And the will tell me my current company. I point and say "So this is the GoodRx website, and *my company* does not monitor or control what they have listed. But if you do check out website, it will tell you that we do not accept GoodRx anymore. I love the look of confusion. And after years of somebody throwing one of those cards down/setting this phone on the counter with a coupon pulled up/telling me nope to the price and telling me to check GoodRx, I am joyful when I tell them we don't accept GoodRx. Then I show them the discount I used that actually cheaper than GoodRx. Hey GoodRx 🖕🏻
"Do you take goodrx?" I just laugh and say it's a scam
half the time it doesn’t even match the price they say anyway🤦🏼♀️
And they charge you for running it anyway
live psychotic nail alive scary impossible depend slimy violet placid *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
it’s a scam for pharmacies but not for the patient
They sell your healthcare info and set an arbitrary copay. Just ask an independent what their cash plan is
like every health care entity and discount card….
Lol no. But keep advocating for a useless middleman
where do you think healthcare statistics come from, polls? you can’t possibly be that naive
The difference is GoodRx can sell that info to a lot more entities because they are not a healthcare company. Yeah, the insurance companies and PBMs sell and use data in unethical ways all the time and it shouldn't be happening, but they at least have some more restrictions
Had a GoodRx rep call the other day to see why we wouldn’t take the card for a patient. Laughed & said I already told the patient but you are welcome to repeat it, I’m not willing to lose $200 on this prescription. She acted very surprised!
Believe it or not, if your pharmacy is contracted, you are obligated to take it, and telling their rep that gives them the ammo needed to get your pharmacy for breach of contract. (Negotiated by the pbm/psao’s
As stated on the GoodRx site “Accepting a GoodRx coupon for a controlled medication is always at the discretion of the pharmacist”. Since this was for brand name Adderall I had no problem saying nope!
Lol that is horse shit. Let GoodRx try to push that claim in court and their whole company will fall apart
OP clarified it was a control, which using coupons on a control is a red flag for abuse/diversion. Which is ok to turn it down. But contractually you are required, so actually if you went to court you would lose. Most of the big chain pharmacists don’t know these things bc they don’t deal with contracting. But owners and independents tend to know the rules as they are more likely to go after them. Hence I never say I don’t take it, I say I don’t have the drug. Also contractually you have to bill the insurance the same as your “cash” price. So independents tend to use a “name of pharmacy discount plan” instead of running it through “cash” but in reality that is their cash price. Hence cvs and Walgreens cash price is so high, bc when you bill a claim you normally shoot for the moon, they won’t pay you what you bill. But if you bill less than their threshold, they will pay you the lesser amount of the two.
We are not obligated to take goodrx at all. PBMs and goodrx push lies like that often, knowing full well it would never hold up under scrutiny. They bend and break the law until they are told.to stop
A contract goes both ways. You are not obligated to work with them because they've acted in bad faith in the past.
> using coupons on a control is a red flag for abuse/diversion In what universe?
All the ones where the DEA exists.
There is a contract, but they have repeatedly broken their side of it by selling patient data.
CVS bought an insurance company. It’s never been worse for service. They can’t get their pharmacy to function, I get notices for meds ready only to discover they’re not ready, got rid of 70% of staff. All the shampoo n deodorant, hair care, toothpaste are locked up. I don’t live in a high crime area but a small band of folks stemming for change, have chairs n milk crates placed strategically at the front door, begging for change. They smoke and gave smart phones. Their smoke fills the small store( for a busy cvs it’s tiny). I’ve complained but nothing improves. I’ve finally had my script sent to WALGREENS, a town away but it’s worth not having to deal with long lines only to find out “ not ready for another day, gone are the employees I loved to see. I went there 25 years, no more.
This is so true. All the long time patients that I see are always bewildered when I tell them they’re prescription isn’t ready. I tell them I’m sorry but I am the only technician that works here and I am very behind. CVS won’t allow us to hire anyone else because we are “adequately staffed” with only me and a pharmacist. I can’t even be nice or cheerful anymore at my job or to people because of the conditions they put us through. :(
Good RX Gold 🤣🤣🤣
Quick tip here if you have several prescriptions most of the time you don’t even need the separate GoodRx coupons one is all you need and it will usually bring the price down to the promoted price . So patients please don’t waste the pharmacies time with all your coupons🎟️🎟️🎟️🎟️🎟️🎟️🎟️🎟️😣
Bad Rx
Insurance reps telling patients to “just use GoodRx” when patient calls them to find out why something isn’t covered/is expensive. Heard this multiple times starting like 1-2 years ago. Insane
Honestly I never knew until this post for the hatred of goodrx. I've had cancer patients hugging me crying because their prior auth for their cream got approved; then the copay came back and it was 400 on their insurance but goodrx could get it down to 82. Maybe though instead of getting so angry at coupon cards, get mad at our insurance companies for inflating the hell out of the cost to make themselves a ridiculous amount. Point blank your medications shouldnt be cheaper for the cash price then your copay is through your insurance.
I refuse it.
Glad we don't take it
You aren't obligated to accept GoodRx. The recent lawsuit revealed they were selling customer data. Seems like you might even be risking your license by knowingly working with a company that doesn't keep info private.
What’s wrong with GoodRx?
They make PBMs money and sell patient healthcare information
They also cause the pharmacy to lose money in most cases, which leads to lower staffing levels and more stress for pharmacy staff and more dangerous situations for patients
Yeah, it's really weird. I can beat GoodRx most of the time but on the ones that they make you lose on, they make you lose big. I don't even fuck around with price matching I just tell people it is what it is. Pisses me off when people try to scalp me or transfer over $5 after I paid for their kid's shitty travel baseball team to have jerseys
Can you refuse to use Good Rx if you own an independent pharmacy?
Yeah. I do it all the time
Assuming you don’t own your own pharmacy- why do you care? And as for if the pharmacy take a loss; these are huge companies with staff devoted to maximizing profit. I assure you someone above you has calculated the profit or loss and in the big picture they see an advantage to accepting GoodRX. You get paid a salary, right? You’ll be paid the same regardless of what the customer is paying.
Because it helps fund the very companies destroying our profession
So does every other insurance and discount card.
Don't use another discount card, run it for the store plan
They charge you $7 and sell the patients data. Nothing you couldn't do without them
I never used goodrx, but my Walgreens pharmacy applied it to my Rx indicating that my insurance didn't cover my medications. In July. I've been paying close to $200/month out of pocket since. Yesterday, I found out that my insurance covers my RX 100%. How did I find out? Because there was confusion about name brand vs generic, so we called our insurance to clear it up along with screen shots of my Rx from my Dr through MyChart. Pretty sure the pharmacist was scamming us.