Prescription and Dental Savings Plans

I have fairly standard health insurance coverage, and my prescription plan on it isn't terrible. It's a pretty straight-forward $10/prescription/month, unless it's anything super specialized. I have a couple of regular prescriptions that I take every month - so I was pretty content with the price I was paying ($20/month or $60 for a 90 day supply). One day when I got my prescription, one of the workers had written on the outside of my package what the cost would have been had I been a member the Walgreens Prescription Savings Club. The difference was 50%!!! So I started doing some calculations: At only $20 to join, it would pay for itself the first time I used it to refill a 90 day supply! The cost is $20/year for an individual and $35/year for a family. Here are the details:

• Valuable discounts on thousands of brand-name and most generic medications
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• Between 5 percent and 20 percent discounts on most immunizations
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• 10 percent bonus on purchases of Walgreens Brand and Nice! products and in-store photofinishing services³
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• 10 percent savings on services from Take Care Clinics^SM at select Walgreens⁴
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• Savings on preventive and lifestyle medications your insurance may not cover
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• Additional prescription discounts on pet medications with a human equivalent, all compound medications, nebulizers and diabetic supplies with a prescription

And if you don't save the cost of the prescription plan in one year, they'll refund you the difference! So there really is no risk! It's a pretty awesome plan that I use on a monthly basis! And to put a cheery on top, you get 500 Balance Reward points for every prescription you get filled! But more about that later. . .

Another discount program that I've just stumbled across (well, I actually went looking for it) is Careington Dental Discount Plan (careington.com). Most people on individual medical plans (like myself) have found that have a dental rider is cost prohibitive because of the high premiums, long waiting periods, and in the end - limited coverage. So joining something like Careington is a pretty good option. After being quoted roughly $1,600 for a crown from a dentist, I started shopping around (that is, after I stopped crying). Careington is the one I like the best - for lots of reasons - but just a few are: it has an A+ rating with the BBB, has been featured on Good Morning America, and was recognized by the billing "specialists" at the various dentists offices that I called. Plus - it's only $6.95/month!!! Long story short - with my membership in Careington, I'm going to be able to get a crown for only $897! That's almost a 50% discount!

Tip: Before you sign up for these (or any discount programs like these) - call the drug stores/dentists that they claim to be a provider for, and make sure they'll accept the program. Also, there are different degrees to which they'll accept the programs. They should be able to give you exact prices on the treatments you're looking for, because the pricing on that has been pre-negotiated as part of their participation agreement with the discount plan. Just talk to someone in billing and you should be good. I haven't run across an unhelpful person yet - so don't feel bad about asking them a ton of questions! :-)