Are Generic Drugs Cheaper Without Using Insurance?

Many insured patients have high out-of-pocket expenses when paying for medications — even for some generic medications — especially when they are enrolled in high-deductible healthcare plans. In a cross-sectional study, investigators used U.S. national survey data to estimate out-of-pocket payments for generic drugs that exceeded drug pricing that could have been obtained from two commonly used discount medication programs (Amazon Prime and GoodRx Gold). The analysis was focused on 20 generic medications that are prescribed for hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, depression/anxiety, reflux, diabetes, hypothyroid, and asthma.

Estimated out-of-pocket payments exceeded discount program prices for about one third of prescribed generic medication…