I have been recommending Blink Health for many of my patients to save money on their prescription medications, especially generic medications since I discovered them at the beginning of 2017. My wife and I recently used Blink Health to purchase some fluticasone (Flonase) nasal spray since it was cheaper than through my prescription insurance and cheaper than the OTC version after the promotional discount for new users. Below are my thoughts and professional opinion on the company and why I continue to recommend the use of Blink Health to my patients as a way to save money when filling their prescription medications.
Just here for the special $15 off coupon code offer? Click here
If you are looking for the cheapest place to get prescriptions filled without insurance read more below.
What is Blink Health?
Blink Health is a technology company dedicated to bringing transparency to drug pricing and helping people save money on their prescription medications. They are a innovative company that contracts with over 40,000 57,000 [update 10/24/17- CVS discontinues partnership with Blink Health] pharmacies nationwide to offer significant discounts on prescription medications. They have a A rating with the better business bureau so you can feel comfortable using their service.
Watch an interview with the founders via the CBS This Morning crew below:
What makes Blink Health unique and so innovative?
The main difference is with Blink Health you pay the SAME PRICE no matter what pharmacy within their network YOU chose to use. That is in contrast to typical discount cards like that have different contracted prices at each pharmacy that can vary by a large amount. If you already fill your prescriptions at one of Blink Health’s contracted pharmacies such as kmart, Walmart, Kroger, Rite Aid, and many independent pharmacies then you just take your Blink Card to your regular pharmacy and save!
Blink Health is not an insurance. It’s more like Groupon, where you purchase a coupon that guarantees that you can buy your medication at a specific price at any participating pharmacy. Therefore, you have completely transparent pricing. You know what you are going to pay for your medication before you buy.
When using Blink Health you are not subject to prior authorizations, quantity limitations, days supply limitations, and formulary exclusions that are commonly associated with prescription insurance plans. Blink Health’s pharmacy network consists of over 40,000 pharmacies nationwide including major chains like Walmart, Rite Aid, Albertsons, Kmart, Kroger, and more. Unfortunately, Walgreens and CVS,now as of 10/24/17, are not contracted with Blink Health any longer due a dispute over pricing.
Suggested read Blink Health Vs GoodRx Gold
The website: BlinkHealth.com
The Blink Health website is modern and easy to navigate with the search function front and center when the page first loads making it quick and easy to get started. Details about how Blink Health is different and how the process to follow to get your discounted price follow as you scroll down the page.
Further down there are new reports and testimonials about how Blink Health has help individuals save money on their prescription medications followed by a tool to help find participating pharmacies in your area.
Lastly, is the customer service information if you had any questions or concerns with the program and links to the Blink Health app which is available for both IOS and Android.
How does Blink Health work?
- Go to the Blink Health website
- Search for the medication by entering the drug name in the search box
- Adjust the strength and quantity of tablets to match your prescription
- Register for an account (your name must match what’s on your prescription)
- Pay online via credit, prepaid, FSA, or HSA card.
- Take your prescription and/or Blink card (which you can get sent via text, email, or the app) with you to the pharmacy. The pharmacy will use the information on the Blink card to process your prescription, Blink Health will pay the pharmacy their negotiated rate for the product, and you will pay NOTHING more at the pharmacy.
What I like about Blink Health:
The number one thing I like about Blink Health are the exceptionally low prices. They use the negotiating power of their large user base to obtain prices that are usually reserved for large group insurance policies. Many of the prices are cheaper than most generic insurance copays especially in the deductible phase of your plan.
The second best aspect of using Blink Health is that they have an extremely large network of over 40,000 pharmacies nationwide so as long as you don’t fill prescriptions at CVS/Target, Walgreens or Duane Read you are pretty much covered and can use Blink Health at your pharmacy with the pharmacist you already know.
Blink Health offers delivery via the mail through their own mail order pharmacy. This makes getting your prescription easy AND affordable.
The other things I like about Blink Health is that there is basically no risk. You buy your Blink Card and the price you pay is guaranteed, never expires, and 100% refundable if not used. Your Blink Card can be delivered via e-mail, text, printed, or displayed in the app.
Once you are a customer you are eligible for referral credits when you help others you know save money by using Blink Health. The current promotion is that for every person you refer that fills a prescription with Blink Health you receive a $15 credit for your next purchase. With 50% of medications costing $10 or less via Blink Health that means you will be getting FREE or practically free medications.
Using the Blink Health website is very easy. The search box is smart and suggests medications with only a few letters and uses both brand and generic names. I’ve found from fat fingering my keyboard that it even makes accurate suggestions if you absolutely butcher the drug name.
Once you create an account Blink Health will even send you reminders to refill your medications so you don’t have to worry about forgetting when it’s time to get your next fill.
If your prescription is currently at an out of network pharmacy (CVS or Walgreens) you can easily set up your prescription to be transferred during the process of buying your Blink Card. You enter your current pharmacy’s info, your name and date of birth, as well as your medication name and prescription number and Blink sends a request to the new pharmacy to complete the transfer process for you.
Things I didn’t like:
With the withdrawal of CVS and Walgreens from the Blink Health network of participating pharmacies your choices are a little more limited. Another aspect that I don’t like is that Blink Health states you can’t use their discounts on medications for your pet. You can currently only use Blink Health to buy medications for humans even if your pet is prescribed a medication that has a human equivalent such as methimazole, tramadol, or levothyroxine. For these instances I recommend you check out Singlecare
Lastly, the extra steps you have to go through to use Blink Health is somewhat cumbersome compared to normal prescription discount cards like Singlecare, which are much simpler to use.
Who can benefit the most from using Blink Health?
The true answer is everyone! If you are insured and are prescribed a medication that isn’t covered by your insurance use the app or the website to look up if Blink Health’s discounted price is affordable for you. Medications that are commonly not covered by insurance are ADHD medications like Adderall and Ritalin, Robitussin AC, phentermine, viagra, cialis, benzonatate, OTC medications like loratadine (claritin), cetirizine (Zyrtec), omeprazole (Prilosec), fluticasone (Flonase), and Miralax, vitamins and supplements like ferrous sulfate, magnesium, B12, B6, Beer’s list drugs like cyclobenzaprine(Flexeril), amitriptyline (Elavil), methocarbamol (Robaxin), and zolpidem (Ambien).
If you are paying $10 or more for a generic medication copay you need to take a look to see if you can save money by using Blink Health. They have over 7,500 medications priced $10 or less for a 30 day supply, many are even free for your first fill after the exclusive promotion I have negotiated.
Ask you doctor for a 90 day supply or larger and save even more!
Although, individuals with high prescription deductibles or are uninsured, and seniors in the medicare part D coverage gap will likely benefit the most.
People that have high prescription deductibles that are primarily on generic medications and won’t ever meet their deductible before years end will benefit greatly. There is no real reason to use your insurance unless they provide a sizable discount during your deductible phase. Most of the time you are paying the pharmacy’s inflated usual and customary pricing during your deductible phase of your insurance coverage. Using a prescription discount service like Blink Health can save your a substantial amount of money!
f you have a health savings account (HSA) to pay for your medical and prescription expenses. Your situation is very much like the scenario above. Extended the power of the money you have contributed to the HSA by using a discount card and getting your medications for as cheaply as you can.
Seniors that fall into the medicare part D coverage gap, AKA the donut hole, pay a higher price for their medications. During this phase generic medications may be cheaper to buy using a discount card. If you use a discount card to pay for your medication during the coverage gap the it doesn’t count toward your out of pocket expenses but if you don’t expect to get out of the coverage gap and into the catastrophic phase then saving all that you can with a prescription savings card is the way to go to reduce your overall money out of pocket until everything resets on January 1st.
The good thing is you have to option to use your insurance OR the discount card whenever you want to.
Using a prescription discount service like Blink Health can save you a substantial amount of money! If you have a health savings account (HSA) to pay for your medical and prescription expenses. You situation is very much like the scenario above. Extended the power of the money you have contributed to the HSA by using a discount card and getting your medications for as cheaply as you can.
Unless you have more money than you know what to do with, head on over to Blink Health right now and take advantage of the special offer I have negotiate for visitors of TheFrugalPharmacist.
My personal experience:
In the spring of 2017 my wife’s allergies were flaring up and we needed to fill a prescription for generic Flonase. I had the choice of buying the OTC version which is around $15 per bottle for the store brand or getting a prescription and using our insurance which would have been $12.50.
I then looked on Blink Health to discover that a bottle of generic Flonase is only $9.97. This was the first time filling with them so I also got the promotional price of $4.97. I purchased the medication on Blink Health and took the resulting Blink Card and prescription to my local Rite Aid and filled the prescription.
The technician processed the prescription with the information from the Blink Card, prepared the prescription, the pharmacist completed his safety and accuracy checks, and the cashier rung me out. I didn’t pay a dime at the pharmacy and whole process took less than 15 minutes on a fairly busy day in the pharmacy.
Summary:
Blink Health is an innovative way to purchase medications at a significant discount that anyone can use to save substantial money. The website and app are easy to use, the severely discounted prices are guaranteed and fully refundable if you don’t fill your prescription. I’ve used Blink Health to save on prescription medications and had a fantastic, seamless experience. Click the link below to get an exclusive special offer on your first fill.
Special Offer Exclusive to visitors of TheFrugalPharmacist
Disclaimer: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links in which I receive a commission for the first time someone uses Blink Health. This does not influence my recommendations and opinion as they are based my own honest thoughts from our personal experience using Blink Health ourselves. As a pharmacist my first priority is the health and well being of my patients including the affordability of their medications.