^[1]According to PBS, there are 44 million people in America who have no health insurance. And even those who do have insurance still often have to make large co-pays on certain drugs. But many people don’t know that different pharmacies in the same city will have different prices for their drugs. If you’re on a budget, uninsured, or just hate the idea of paying too much for anything, you should check out GoodRx. Even those with insurance or Medicare can save money!

What is it and what does it do

Main Functionality

GoodRx is an iPhone app that uses your current location to help you compare prices on prescription drugs at pharmacies near you. You can search for the drugs you need, and see how much less you could be paying. The app also includes coupons so that you can get the lowest prices possible.

Pros

• Two ways to find the meds you need: search by name, or browse by health condition
• Check on prices based on dose size
• Only licensed pharmacies are included in the search results: just because you’re getting a discount doesn’t mean you won’t be getting quality drugs
• Automatically compares generic versus name-brand drug
• Free, and not a single banner ad in sight!
• Search for drugs by your current location, or by zip code
• Includes local pharmacies as well as licensed mail order pharmacies
• Average savings are between 20 and 80 percent, even if you have insurance

Cons

• In-app coupons aren’t always the cheapest way to get the drugs you need: don’t forget about prescription drug programs that your local pharmacy might be running!
• No way to expand search radius, making this app cumbersome for people in rural locations (you’d just have to keep entering different zip codes to expand your search, since there’s no tool to look 20, 30, 40, or 50 miles from your current location.

Discussion

^[2]Here’s the single reason you need to check out this app immediately: users see massive savings. How massive? One user reported that a drug that should have cost her $452.97 cost her just $40.20 when she used GoodRx. You do need to bring your phone with you to show the GoodRx discount code to get certain prices on drugs, however.

Even with their coupons, GoodRx didn’t quite find the lowest deal for one of my prescriptions. I could actually get the drug for slightly less using my pharmacy’s prescription loyalty program, though there was an annual fee involved. The GoodRx price was within a couple of dollars, though!

Even if you have insurance or Medicare, GoodRx has been proven to save people money on their prescriptions. The app has info on over 6,000 different drugs, and didn’t miss a single pharmacy in my city.

Conclusion and download link

Maybe you’re a bargain hunter. Maybe you’re uninsured. Maybe you have a beloved grandparent living on a fixed income, and want to help them save some money. Whatever your situation, you can benefit from checking out GoodRx. The app is simple to use, costs nothing, and could save you some serious cash. This is one of the most helpful apps I’ve downloaded in months.

Price: Free

Version reviewed: 2.4

Requires iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, iOS version 4.3 or later

Download size: 0.3 MB

GoodRx on Apple App Store ^[3]