Since the start of COVID-19, many companies have jumped into the online Pharmacy business to compete with established drug chains that offer mail delivery services for prescriptions. Online pharmacies let you purchase medicine over the Internet at bargain prices: Consumer Reports has found that many drugs often cost less than the $12 average copay that people with employer-provided insurance pay for generic drugs.
A few popular online pharmacies include:
- LifeMD
- ZocDoc
- GoodRx
- Optum
- Honeybee
Most carry the full suite of prescription drugs that you might need and only require a prescription from your doctor to fill them. However, some will even connect you with healthcare providers who can issue prescriptions themselves, making the process of obtaining the drugs you need very easy.
What’s more, some online pharmacies even have membership options. Take Amazon Pharmacy, for example. Its RxPass program offers Amazon Prime members access to more than 50 commonly used medications for only $5 per month. What’s more, Amazon Pharmacy and many of its competitors will deliver your prescriptions in packets marked with the day and time that you should take the medicine.
However, online Pharmacies are not a panacea. While some do accept insurance, others do not. Those that don’t often sell their drugs directly so they can cut out the middle links of the supply chain, like pharmacy benefits managers, and simplify their transactions. This means they can often sell prescription drugs for less than you’d pay with your insurance, but not always.
Additionally, online pharmacies are not always the best option for urgent medical needs. The services must fill and then ship all your prescriptions to you because they don’t have physical locations where you can pick your medicine up, so they often work better for medicines you know you’ll need than ones you need to get over an immediate illness. Many, including Amazon, even point this out on their websites.
If you’d like to explore whether an online pharmacy could save you money, we recommend getting started by making a list of your most frequently used drugs and what you currently pay for them. Next, visit several online pharmacies’ websites and look up the drugs you need, writing the prices down so you can compare them later.
From there, you can choose the online pharmacy that provides the best prices. Don’t place your order yet, though: As with all healthcare decisions, we recommend consulting with a trained professional who understands your medical history and needs before making any changes.
