How to get lower prices on prescription drugs

Summary

Life Kit (NPR): How to Get Lower Prices on Prescription Drugs

Host: Marielle Segarra
Guest: Dan Weissman (host of "An Arm and a Leg")
Date: November 3, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode of Life Kit, host Marielle Segarra talks with Dan Weissman, host of "An Arm and a Leg," about practical strategies and workarounds for managing high prescription drug costs in the U.S. Drawing from real listener stories, expert insights, and a field-tested "order of operations," the episode guides listeners through the steps to take when faced with sticker shock at the pharmacy—and how to be proactive in minimizing drug costs.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Problem: Sticker Shock at the Pharmacy

• Marielle paints a vivid picture of the common, distressing scenario at the pharmacy:
  "You expected it to cost 20 bucks, but instead it's 170 or 500 or 1,000." (00:20)
• Dan introduces a tragic real-life case: Cole Schmidt Nacht, whose inability to afford a suddenly expensive asthma inhaler resulted in fatal consequences.
  "If somebody had told him that ... he would be alive today.” (Dan Weissman, 01:44)

Memorable Quote:
"Everybody should know the questions to ask, the things to try, because in his case and in a lot of cases, there is something you can do."
— Dan Weissman (02:18)

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Step-by-Step Guide to Lowering Prescription Drug Costs

1. Double-Check for Errors

• Always verify the price and ensure the pharmacy has accurate, up-to-date insurance information.
  • Example: Dan discovered his prescription was actually $0 after correcting insurance details.
    “Wait, I think my insurance changed. Do you have my new insurance? And then they were like, actually, under your new insurance, it's $0.”
    — Dan Weissman (04:59)

2. Consult the Pharmacist for Alternatives & Discounts

• Ask about dosage/formulation alternatives (e.g., different pill strengths, pill cutters).
• Request if the pharmacist can locate any in-store discounts, coupon codes, or patient savings programs.
  • "I've been to some pharmacists...they're like, oh, let me check. I think there's a coupon for this."
    — Dan Weissman (05:19)

3. Use Online Coupon Services

• Search online with your prescription's name and "coupon" or "discount."
• GoodRx and similar platforms can offer significant savings and show competitive pricing at different pharmacies.
  • "You just click a thing and it shows up on your phone ... these are discounts that GoodRx has worked out, but it's different at every pharmacy."
    — Dan Weissman (07:03, 07:47)
• Prices can vary widely:
  • "Walgreens wants $100 for this... Mariano's...$20. Costco, $20. Walmart, $15."
    — Dan Weissman (07:28)

4. Look for Manufacturer Coupons

• Pharmaceutical companies often offer their own discounts, which can be found by a quick web search.
• Note: Manufacturer coupons usually require private insurance and may not apply for Medicare/Tricare/VA patients due to federal law.
  • "The strategy ... is they’re going to get the insurance company to pay them ... if you don’t have insurance, there’s no point to them giving you this discount."
    — Dan Weissman (08:21)

5. Ask Your Provider About Alternatives

• If the price remains high, reach out to your doctor for different but equivalent medications that are covered.
  • "Is there an alternative version of this medicine that could work for me?"
    — Dan Weissman (10:46)
  • "For medications that are super common, it's just a random quirk that ... this essentially equivalent medicine is being priced really high for you under your insurance."
    — Dan Weissman (11:33)

6. Pursue Prior Authorization

• If no alternative is available, your provider may submit a letter to your insurer explaining medical necessity.
  • "They need your doctor ... to write them and tell them: my patient here needs this specific drug ... that can take time."
    — Dan Weissman (13:53)
  • Sales reps might provide free samples to bridge the gap while waiting for insurance approval.
    • "Doc, do you have or can you get some samples of this medicine for me?"
      — Dan Weissman (16:18)

7. Explore Patient Assistance Programs

• Pharmaceutical companies and nonprofits offer financial help for eligible patients ("patient assistance programs").
  • Applications vary in rigor and requirements; may be income- or insurance-status-dependent.
  • “If you search for the name of your drug and patient assistance program, you'll probably get some answers. ... There's a site called NeedyMeds that brings things together.”
    — Dan Weissman (17:27)

8. Be Proactive During Open Enrollment

• Review the "formulary" for any insurance plan before enrolling:
  • "The formulary is your insurance plan’s list of all the drugs, all the drugs, and how much you will pay for any given drug."
    — Dan Weissman (17:41)
• Search for your required meds to see coverage and pricing; plan ahead with your provider if issues arise.

Pro Tip:
"The sad part is that it’s a thing you have to do every year ... and then next year ... now I’ve got to start fighting again."
— Dan Weissman (19:25)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "I think of these companies—the pharmaceutical companies and, and the insurance companies and the big providers—I think of them all as sharks ... they're all just sharks fighting each other."
  — Dan Weissman (15:14)
• "And what does that make us? The like little minnows."
  — Marielle Segarra (15:30)
• "We're the food."
  — Dan Weissman (15:33)
• "It's exhausting. I need an app after thinking about all this."
  — Marielle Segarra (20:15)
• "You and me both, man."
  — Dan Weissman (20:20)

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Practical Takeaways (from Recap Segment)

(21:55–22:40)

1. Check for mistakes — Is your pharmacy using the correct insurance info?
2. Ask about discounts/coupons — Both at the pharmacy and online.
3. Seek alternatives — Ask provider/pharmacist if a different, covered drug is available.
4. Use samples — Get free samples from your doctor while sorting out insurance issues.
5. Apply for assistance — Financial help may be available from drug companies or nonprofits (NeedyMeds).
6. Check formularies during open enrollment — Know your coverage before selecting an insurance plan, and plan accordingly with your provider if there may be access challenges.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:20] Anecdote about sticker shock at the pharmacy
• [01:07] Case of Cole Schmidt Nacht (fatal outcome due to high medication costs)
• [04:38] First step: Check for errors at the pharmacy
• [05:17] Questions to ask the pharmacist
• [06:24] Using online coupons and GoodRx
• [07:52] Manufacturer coupons and Google search tips
• [08:18] Limitations and caveats of coupon use
• [10:03] Approaching your provider for alternatives
• [13:47] What to do if there’s no covered alternative
• [15:35] Free samples from doctors
• [16:29] Patient assistance programs and NeedyMeds (needyMeds.org)
• [17:41] Evaluating insurance plans: formulary checks
• [19:23] The yearly cycle of researching formularies

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Conclusion

This episode arms listeners with a clear set of tactics to use when faced with high prescription drug prices. By working systematically—verifying insurance, leveraging discounts, exploring alternatives, seeking support programs, and planning ahead during open enrollment—you can dramatically reduce out-of-pocket medication costs and avoid medical and financial pitfalls.

For deeper dives into why healthcare costs so much, check out Dan Weissman's "An Arm and a Leg" podcast.

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End of Summary

Transcript

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[Marielle Segarra]

You're listening to Life Kit from npr. Hey, it's Marielle. You ever get to the pharmacy to pick up some drug that your doctor says you need, and you wait in the line surrounded by people who are coughing and sneezing, and you're hungry because you just got out of work and you're ready to be home already, and then the pharmacist rings up your drug, and it's gonna cost. Pardon me, how much? See, you expected it to cost 20 bucks, but instead it's 170 or 500 or 1,000.

[Dan Weissman]

And you're like, you know, what do I do? What am I supposed to do?

[Marielle Segarra]

Dan Weissman is the host of the podcast An Arm and a Leg.

[Dan Weissman]

It's a podcast about why healthcare costs so freaking much and what we can maybe do about it.

[Marielle Segarra]

Earlier this year, Dan heard a story from Wisconsin about a young guy named.

[Dan Weissman]

Cole Schmidt Nacht who had asthma and showed up at his pharmacy one day to get the inhaler that he used to just kind of maintain. And he'd been using it for years. And they were like, okay, that's $500, which he was not expecting. I think he was expecting to pay something like $70. And he just walked away like he had no idea what to do. And within a couple weeks, he had a big asthma attack and he died.

[Marielle Segarra]

His parents filed a lawsuit against the pharmacy and the pharmacy benefits company because.

[Dan Weissman]

They were like, somebody should have told him that, like, this specific medicine, the deal had changed under his insurance, and it was no longer covered. It was going to be $500, but there's essentially an equivalent inhaler he could have walked out with for a price that would not have shocked him and had somebody told him that he would be alive today. And so as we gathered these stories, I was like, this is essentially the scenario that we're. We're wanting to intervene in. We don't want this to happen to anybody. Everybody should know the questions to ask, the things to try, because in his case and in a lot of cases, there is something you can do.

[Marielle Segarra]

Dan and his team have asked their audience to share their experiences, their tricks, their hacks for getting around the high cost of drugs.

[Dan Weissman]

They're all workarounds, right? They're all like, what's A little patch I can put on this extremely broken thing. There's no single direct path to like. This is the thing you can do. And a lot of times what you're going to do involves a lot of work.

[Marielle Segarra]

After talking with lots of people, they ended up with a kind of order of operations, a checklist, what to do when your prescription costs way more than you expected. On this episode of Life Kit, I talked to Dan about that list.

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[Marielle Segarra]

Okay, Dan, let's start at that moment of sticker shock when the pharmacy tells you how much this drug is gonna cost you. What is the first step?

[Dan Weissman]

The first thing to do is just be like, wait. Really? Like, are you sure? Is there some kind of mistake? Like, this happened to me one time. I went into the pharmacy, I had a prescription for an old Lyme prescription drug. And the pharmacist was like, that's gonna be $400.

[Marielle Segarra]

And you said, no, no thank you.

[Dan Weissman]

I said, really?

[Marielle Segarra]

Recalculate, please.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Dan Weissman]

And I was like, wait, I think my insurance changed. Do you have my new insurance? And then they were like, actually, under your new insurance, it's $0. So like, just check for simple errors. Ask like, could you check with my provider? Is there like something misspelled or something, you know, easy with the insurance that can be fixed.

[Marielle Segarra]

What Else can you ask the pharmacist while you're there?

[Dan Weissman]

There can be other questions. Like, your doctor was like, oh, when you take this twice a day. So I'm prescribing you 60 tablets of 5 milligrams. And it turns out the pharmacy wants like four times as much for that. And the pharmacist could be like, you know, I could give you 30, 10 milligram tablets and there's a pill cutter over there and you could like, solve this. There's just things your doctor may not know about how you're going to be charged for a particular thing. That happens all the time. The next question is like, and you asked the pharmacist first, it's like, hey, is there like a discount for this? Is there like a coupon you could look for? And you know, again, I've been. You may have had this experience too at some pharmacists I've been to. The pharmacist is like, oh, wait, let me check. I think there's a coupon for this. And they just tell you, oh, yeah, I can give this to you for something much more reasonable. But they may or may not do that. They may or may not be able to check. But you have in your pocket some answers. Right. You can basically just open up your phone, go to Google and. And put in the name of the drug you're there to get and like, discount or coupon.

[Marielle Segarra]

This is wild to me.

[Dan Weissman]

Yeah.

[Marielle Segarra]

When I first found out. I use them now all the time. But when I first found out that there were coupons for pharmaceutical drugs and they can lower the cost significantly and they're just available online, like, you don't have to subscribe or pay to get access to them. Yeah, but it's a if you know, you know, thing, right?

[Dan Weissman]

Yeah, yeah. It's just there. And there's kind of two flavors. Right. I mean, you'll probably, you do this Googling, you'll probably get a result from a site like Goodrx, which people are probably familiar with. And it will tell you, like, there's actually. You could just pay cash for this. And this is super discounted price.

[Marielle Segarra]

And we should just say Goodrx has been a sponsor for npr. But you found out about them through your own reporting, right?

[Dan Weissman]

Yeah, exactly. And yeah, you don't have to sign up for anything. You just like click a thing and it shows up on your phone and there's a code you show to the pharmacist and they're like, great, here it is. For a Price you could probably afford. When I showed up at the pharmacy and was told my drug would be $400, I was like, I've heard about this site, Goodrx, and it was pretty interesting because it showed your Pharmacy's asking for $400 for this. If you use our coupon, you could pay $100. I was like, that still seems like an awful lot. And they're like, Walgreens wants $100 for this and, and CVS want 75. But Mariano's, which is a local grocery chain with a pharmacy in it, they'll sell it to you for 20. Costco, 20 bucks, Walmart, $15.

[Marielle Segarra]

And this is all what you saw on Goodrx.

[Dan Weissman]

These are discounts that Goodrx has worked out, but it's different at every pharmacy.

[Marielle Segarra]

So you mentioned that pharmaceutical companies will often offer coupons as well. How do you go about finding those?

[Dan Weissman]

You Google the name of your drug and coupon or discount. That is the most direct way. And if it's there, it's probably going to show up. I mean, GoodRx may have a link to it also, but they're not hard to find. The manufacturers want them to be easy to find because they want you to use them.

[Marielle Segarra]

Are there any caveats here when it comes to using coupons?

[Dan Weissman]

The first caveat is like, not every drug that you would want a coupon for has a coupon you can use. And another one is the coupon may not make it really affordable for you. The coupon may be like, this drug that they're going to charge you $500 for is now just $100 for you. And you may be like, thanks, but $100 is still more than works for me. And then there are parts that are more particular to you. One is you actually have to have insurance for this to work. Because the strategy on the drug company's part here is they're going to get the insurance company to pay them. Once they've given you a discount, there's still money left over for them to be paid by the insurance company. So if you don't have insurance, there's no point to them giving you this discount. And not all insurance works with it. Specifically, if you have insurance that's basically backed by the federal government, like Medicare or Tricare or the va, there's what are called anti kickback laws written that basically mean you can't access these deals. So that's not great. And then finally your insurance company may put up roadblocks. And the basic idea is the insurance company Sees the pharmaceutical company's game. They're like, I don't like that. And I'm going to make it so that Dan can't use your coupon. Or if he uses it, he's still got to pay his big deductible. He's still got to lay out tons of money in cash before I start kicking in for this fun. It is super, super, super annoying. I mean, annoying doesn't cover it. Right? There's just no words.

[Marielle Segarra]

Yep. Okay, so we tried seeing if there was a mistake and then we tried looking for coupons.

[Dan Weissman]

Yes.

[Marielle Segarra]

The next step is to ask your provider if they can help.

[Dan Weissman]

Yes. So we learned about this. We kind of distilled this playbook partly from talking with woman Jeannie Chamberlain from North Carolina. So her husband got a prescription, they took it to the pharmacy, and it was $1,200 for a 14 day supply. Wow. So, you know, she did the first things, she went to Google and she was like, is there a discount here? Is there a coupon here? And Google was like, well, good news, yes, there's a coupon here. But bad news with the coupon, this $1,200 thing is $800. And Ginny was like, that's not gonna work. Yeah. So onto the next step. And so we did what I tell people to do.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

We went back to the doctor and.

[Dan Weissman]

Said, is there something else? A lot of the time, yeah, there is. You can ask the pharmacist or your doctor, is there an alternative version of this medicine that could work for me? And your pharmacist may say, oh, yeah, right. So this particular asthma inhaler, it's no longer covered by your insurance. It's gonna be $500. But there's one made by a competing company that like works for most people. And it looks like I could give it to you for like 20 bucks. But you wanna loop in probably your provider in most cases, so to say, like, is this other one. Is there some reason I shouldn't take this other one? Cause sometimes there is. Sometimes your provider's gonna be like, well, cause you're on this other thing that I've prescribed you, you probably shouldn't do that one. Or well, I've had bad experience with it, but like many, many times for medications that are super common, it's just a random quirk that like this essentially equivalent medicine is being priced really high for you under your insurance. But this other one would be totally available for cheap.

[Marielle Segarra]

After the break, we talk about what to do when there is no alternative. And Dan shares more tips.

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[Marielle Segarra]

Okay, we're back. Dan, what can you do? When your doctor says there is no other drug for you to take, then.

[Dan Weissman]

You'Ve got a couple of steps to follow. One question is like, does my insurance just not cover this at all? Or are they asking for what's called a prior authorization, meaning they need your doctor or provider to like write them and tell them my patient here needs this specific drugs. Here are the medical reasons that other alternatives are not going to work for this patient. I need this one. And your provider should be familiar with that rap and should go ahead and write whatever letter they need to write. But that can take time, right? Your doctor may be like, I'm going to write that letter for you, but I'm going to tell you they're going to want 14 days to get this resolved. And you're like, I need this right now. And when you get to the point where it's like we got a bite with the insurance company, this is where our listeners really came through. And this Tip came from a kind of surprising place because the person who called it in is a pharmaceutical sales rep. His name's John. John requested that we use just his first name because he's not authorized to speak to the media about this kind of stuff. I love it when I hear stories of, of average people just sticking it to the insurance company. And it's nice when the patient wins because they don't get a lot of wins.

[Marielle Segarra]

I know he said the insurance company, not the pharmaceutical company.

[Dan Weissman]

Yeah, that's true, that's true.

[Marielle Segarra]

He loves average people sticking it to the other guys.

[Dan Weissman]

But okay, I think of these companies, the pharmaceutical companies and, and the insurance companies and the big providers. I think of them all as sharks. And they're each trying to say, like, ah, I hate that shark. That's a bad guy, that shark. But like, they're all just sharks fighting each other.

[Marielle Segarra]

And what does that make us? The like little minnows.

[Dan Weissman]

Yeah, we're the food.

[Marielle Segarra]

Nice.

[Dan Weissman]

We're it. They're all fighting over who gets to eat the most of us. Yeah, great. Yeah. It's such an honor to be fought over by these guys. But so what John says was like, this is actually a place where someone like me can help you. He's like, you know, I carry around samples. I have free samples of things and this is kind of what they're useful for, right? That like your doctor may have on his shelf samples of this thing that you basically ask your doctor, doc, do you have or can you get some samples of this medicine for me? Then you have the medicine you need while you and your provider are waging this fight with the insurance company to get your medicine covered.

[Marielle Segarra]

Okay, so you go to your doctor, you say, got any samples?

[Dan Weissman]

Yeah.

[Marielle Segarra]

Can you give me enough to tide me over for two weeks?

[Dan Weissman]

Yeah. Or however long it takes.

[Marielle Segarra]

Okay, well, let's say even that doesn't work. Is there anything else or is this the end of the line?

[Dan Weissman]

No, we're not quite at the end yet. Because some drug manufacturers also just offer straight up discounts like financial assistance. They call it patient assistance programs. So these are need based programs. The pharmaceutical companies offer some of them. Other times they're offered through nonprofit organizations and they can make your medicine available for free or at a big discount. So unlike a coupon, you can't just like pull it up on your phone. You have to actually fill out an application. And some applications are much more rigorous than others and they all have requirements. They may be like, if you have insurance, we can't help you. Or your income is too high, or we can't help you. So this is absolutely like, you have to kind of see if there's something there for you. And they may require your doctor to send in paperwork and you can search for them individually online. If you search for the name of your drug and patient assistance program, you'll probably get some answers. But if you're looking for multiple drugs or just want a big resource, there's a site called NeedyMeds that brings things together.

[Marielle Segarra]

So I'm wondering, a lot of folks are choosing their health insurance plans right now. What should people who take prescription drugs be thinking about as they look over plans?

[Dan Weissman]

Yeah, the last tip is actually in some ways the place to start, if you can start early enough. A lot of us don't have a lot of choices when we pick insurance, but we can at least get information about any choices that we do have. There's this super important document that I never heard tell of until I'd been reporting on healthcare for a minute. It's called the formulary. And the formulary is your insurance plan's list of all the drugs, all the drugs, and how much you will pay for any given drug. So during open enrollment is when you got to find that formulary for any plan you're looking at. So if you're shopping on healthcare.gov or your state's Affordable Care Act Marketplace site, you can find it there online. I mean, you might have to hunt around a little bit. If you're getting this from hr, you ask like, I need to see the formulary for next year's insurance plans. And then you, if you're lucky, you know, you get it in electronic form and you hit control F. Right. Find for the drugs that you need to take. And that's where it tells you, this is what your medicines are going to cost you next year under this plan. This is also the time when, if you're like, no plan that's being offered to me has my meds at the prices that are right for me. Now you have a head start, right? It's the fall. The year hasn't started yet. And this is when you go to your provider and you're like, hey, what are alternatives? They say, this drug for my condition isn't covered, but this other one is, can I take that one? And if your doctor's like, no, you're like, great, let's start that process now of hitting the appeals, hitting the prior authorizations so that when it's January 1st, we've sorted it out.

[Marielle Segarra]

Yeah, that's a good point. That's a good tip.

[Dan Weissman]

Yeah, it's. I mean, it's like the super pro tip. And the sad part is that it's a thing you have to do every year, right? Like, you solved it for this year. Your insurance is. You're set up. You're on a plan that covers what you need, or you fought the battle to get it covered, and then next year your work is like, yeah, we changed insurance plans. You're like, okay, what's the formulary this time? And now I got to start fighting again? Or if you're on Medicare and the drug benefit there, it's called Part D. Those plans are all administered by private insurance companies, and a lot of them change every year, like, change the formulary. So Jeannie, who we talked to at the beginning, she's working with seniors who every year she's like, let's look at that formulary. And if they didn't do that with her, they'll come to her in January and they'll be like, I don't know why my medicine is $300 now.

[Marielle Segarra]

It's exhausting. I need an app after thinking about all this.

[Dan Weissman]

You and me both, man.

[Marielle Segarra]

Dan Weissman, thank you so much, Muriel.

[Dan Weissman]

Thanks so much for having me.

[Marielle Segarra]

That was Dan Weissman, host of the show An Arm and a Leg, a podcast about why healthcare costs so freaking much and what we can maybe do about it. All right, time for a recap. Takeaway 1. If you're picking up a prescription and it costs more than you expected, first find out if there's been a mistake, like maybe the pharmacy doesn't have your insurance information or input it wrong. Takeaway 2. Ask your pharmacist for coupons or discounts, and also look for them online. Takeaway 3. Ask if there are any alternative drugs that you could take, and if not, see if they'll write a letter of medical necessity to your insurance company to get them to cover this drug. Takeaway four, that process can take a while, so in the meantime, find out if your doctor's office has any free samples of the drug that can tide you over. Takeaway 5. Look into financial assistance programs. Some drug manufacturers offer these based on financial need, and nonprofit groups sometimes offer these, too. One site that can help you navigate your Options is called NeedyMeds. And Takeaway 6, before you choose your health insurance plan for next year, ask to see the formulary for each plan you're considering. That'll show you all the drugs your insurance covers and how much you'll pay for each one. This could help you make decisions about a plan or or help you get a letter of medical necessity from your doctor before the new plan year starts. Okay, before we go, I have a favor to ask. If you have a second Would you leave Life Kit a five Star Review? If Life Kit has ever helped you save a little money, make a healthier choice for yourself, or made you feel more seen, a five star review is a great way to show your support and thank you. This episode of Life Kit was produced by Claire Marie Schneider. Our our Visuals editor is Beck Harlan and our Digital editor is Malika Garib. Megan Keane is our Senior Supervising Editor and Beth Donovan is our Executive Producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagle, Margaret Serino and Sylvie Douglas. Engineering support comes from Becky Brown with fact checking by Tyler Jones. Special thanks to Emily Pisacreta. I'm Marielle Segarra. Thanks for listening.

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