How to Save on Prescription Costs with Optum Perks

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I’ll be the first to admit that over the last few months, everyone’s lives have changed quite a bit. We’ve found ourselves with more time at home, many of us have had to restructure our budgets and we’ve truthfully been forced to look at our health in a whole new way. My family’s heath and the costs associated with it have been a constant concern of mine since having my oldest son diagnosed with a chronic condition a little over two years ago, but now more than ever my desire to control our prescriptions prices has grown exponentially. With three out of four members of our family having at least one monthly prescription and my son having more than six prescriptions that need to be filled monthly, it’s a mission of mine to always be on the lookout for prescription coupons and ways to lower our costs. Now, with quarantines, self-isolation and reduced work hours thrown into the mix, I’ve spent some of my extra time at home learning how to save on prescription costs with Optum Perks (prices are subject to change over time). Whether you’re uninsured, have a high deductible plan or perhaps have prescriptions that aren’t covered under your current plan or are covered at a high cost, I want to share with you how using Optum Perks can help you maximize your savings.

I’ve already shared with you that my family has 8+ prescriptions a month in between all of us. To some of you that may sound like a lot. To others depending on your own heath, it may not sound like that many. However, for us this influx of prescriptions has been a pretty big adjustment. While we do have insurance and I’m thankful that we do, there are still challenges when it comes to purchasing the prescriptions every month that my family needs. Anyone who has dealt with filling prescriptions on a regular basis knows that it’s an endless spiral of preferred drugs, pre-approvals and co-pays. When I first started navigating our prescription needs, I thought that I just had to deal with it and move on. But over the years of talking to my insurance company, researching online and learning to navigate my family’s personal needs, I’ve learned that there is almost never a one size fits all plan that works best for every single thing. Sometimes using my insurance is the absolute best approach for my family. Sometimes there are manufacturer discounts that help us the most. But more often lately, I’ve discovered that a pharmacy discount card like the Optum Perks card can help me find the best savings on some of my family’s essential prescriptions. Now for those of you who haven’t heard of Optum Perks, don’t worry because we’re gonna walk through the process of how you can get your Optum Perks card with no fees and no membership required and how you can determine how much and how often it can save you on prescriptions.

To do that I’m gonna share with you the three different scenarios in which Optum Perks can help you because truthfully, this card can benefit every single family that has prescription needs. So let’s get started.

Life Scenario 1: No Insurance or Lapse in Insurance

In a perfect world, we would all have great insurance at all times and never have to worry about prescription costs. However, I don’t think I need to tell you that this isn’t a perfect world. Life happens. Jobs end. Especially during these trying times, there may be a chance that you find yourself without insurance or with a lapse in insurance. I’ve been there. In fact, I was there at one of the worst times possible when I was pregnant with my second son. Both my husband and my job’s unexpectedly ended. It was during that time that I first discovered that pharmacy discount cards existed. Now please note that we are not talking about a plan to see doctors but instead a card that helps make those essential prescriptions more affordable. This is where Optum Perks can in my opinion be the most help. With no insurance or a lapse in insurance, you can use three easy steps to search for, find and save prescriptions savings. With over 64,000+ participating pharmacies nationwide, all that you need to do is go here to search for your prescription name, find it at a pharmacy near you and either print your coupon immediately or have it texted or emailed to you for savings of up to 80% on your prescriptions.

Life Scenario 2: High Deductible Insurance Plans

I don’t want you to think that if you have insurance Optum Perks isn’t for you because that couldn’t be further from the truth, especially in you have a high deductible plan. Now, it’s important to note that Optum Perks can’t be used in conjunction with your prescription insurance so what you pay for your prescriptions using Optum Perks won’t go towards your deductible but if you have a deductible there’s no way you’ll reach in one year (I’ve been in this bracket as well), it can save you greatly. It takes only a few minutes to compare your prescription prices on your high deductible plan and those available using the Search, Find and Save function on the Optum Perks website. Then simply add up those costs and savings to see how Optum Perks can help reduce your RX costs and save you in the end. To get started, search for your prescription on Optum Perks here.

Life Scenario 3: You Have Prescription Insurance but Still Could be Saving More

For my final scenario, I’m gonna give you a little peek into my own life because this is the category I currently fall into. We have prescription insurance but with 8+ monthly prescriptions in our family, there’s quite a bit of navigating that needs to be done on a monthly basis. As most of you know, my son has a chronic health condition called Type 1 diabetes. On top of this he has hypothyroidism and he alone has more than 6 prescriptions that need to be filled every single month. Now, let me explain a little further and tell you that there are times that prescriptions he needs aren’t covered by his insurance. In the world of Type 1 Diabetes (and most medical conditions), prescriptions are constantly changing. Faster acting options become available, there are constant breakthroughs with emergency management techniques and there are days when it seems like prescription options are changing at the speed of light. Add to that the fact that every insurance has it’s “preferred drugs” that are covered but might not be the best fit for your specific need and this is where Optum Perks has really been of beneficial. There have been many times over the last few years when we’ve wanted to switch what we were using and try something different but what we wanted to try wasn’t a preferred medication in our insurance company’s eyes. So now, when that happens we simple hop on the Optum Perks website and search, find and save on our prescriptions costs there.

This free, easy-to-use site allows us to compare prescription prices at multiple pharmacies near us, adjust dosage and quantity and eventually see prices that we can expect to pay using a coupon that Optum Perks emails or texts directly to us.

By simply running all our prescription needs through Optum Perks, I was able to find over $50 of monthly savings on my son’s prescriptions (remember that is over multiple prescriptions). His thyroid medication alone was $10 less a month and I even discovered that one of his medications that we keep on hand for nausea and which hasn’t been covered under our current insurance is less than $20 using Optum Perks. You better believe next time I pick up that prescription I’ll have my Optum Perks coupon in hand!

But the savings doesn’t stop with my son’s prescription needs. Both my husband and I take one medication daily and we ran those through Optum Perks as well. Using Optum Perks saved us $5 on my medication. While I know these numbers may not look like much at first glance, when you take the $50 savings for my son’s medications and the $5 for mine, that’s $55 a month in savings or $660 a year. That more than covers the cost of extra outings (once we’re able to go back out into the world freely again) or extra food (did I mention my son is a teenage boy?). For my family, it’s worth it to run each and every prescription we receive through Optum Perks and compare it with what we currently pay through our prescription insurance and since it takes only seconds to search, find and save at over 64,000+ pharmacies nationwide, it would be crazy not to do it! Then I simply take my coupon with me (printed or on my phone) and head to the pharmacy drive through or in-store and maximize my savings with every prescription refill!

Click here to check your prescription savings using Optum Perks.

Still not sure how this no membership, no fee, easy-to-use plan works? Don’t worry! I put together a short video to show you how simple it is to find your prescription on the Optum Perks site, search for savings near you, get your coupon and save at your pharmacy. Be sure to check it out below.

Then I encourage you to give it a try! During this time when we could all use a little savings, it’s the perfect way to compare prescription savings and reduce your monthly prescription costs whether you uninsured, have a high deductible or have medications that aren’t covered or are covered at a high cost. So start clicking and discover the possibility of more savings on your prescriptions at the pharmacies you already use.