CVS pharmacies fill almost 2 billion prescriptions a year and the company is one of the top two major chain pharmacies in the country. With over 9800 locations nationwide there is no doubt a CVS is located near where you live.
I contacted my pharmacist colleagues that work at CVS and surveyed them to find out what prescription discount card provides the lowest prices for medication at CVS pharmacy.
As I expected from my experience working at a competing pharmacy chain the answer wasn’t perfectly clear. The best prescription discount card to use at CVS depends on the medication, strength, and quantity your prescription is written for. One card my fellow pharmacists suggests trying Singlecare first due to the special offer that saves you an additional $5 on your first use.
Considering the enormous prescription volume CVS pharmacy processes each year you would think they would be able to offer the lowest prices available for prescription medications.
The opposite is true! If you ask for their cash price for most medications you will find they have some of the highest usual and customary pricing. This is due to how they maximize the companies profits and is mostly due to how they contract with insurance companies. I’ll explain that in detail in another post.
Why is Singlecare the best pharmacy discount card to try first at CVS?
Singlecare has used its negotiating abilities to hammer out an introductory offer with CVS pharmacy, including those located in Target stores. You can save an additional $5 off your prescription the very first time you use your Singlecare card.
Make sure to download the Singlecare app or check out their prescription pricing tool for your prescription whether you have insurance of not because chances are the Singlecare price will beat your copay most of the time.
Even after the introductory offer, Singlecare has negotiated extremely discounted prices on almost 50,000 FDA approved medications and actively works with pharmacies to lower prices on the most commonly prescribed drugs to ensure they are affordable to you.
Remember the $5 additional savings offer is only for the first time you use your Singlecare card. The refills or any prescriptions after that will cost more. DO NOT BE RUDE TO THE TECHNICIAN OR PHARMACIST! You have been warned (in BOLD CAPS even).
If you want even more details read my full in-depth review of Singlecare.
Other pharmacy savings card options
The CVS pharmacists I surveyed mentioned 2 other pharmacy discount cards that tends to have very low prices for common medications. The prescription discount cards are RxCut and PatientRx
After researching these rx savings cards a little more I did find that the prices are very good. The only real draw back is that neither company has a mobile app. You will have to use a browser to access the site and their pricing tool or just take your card to the pharmacy and ask the technician what the discounted price will be using the card you received.
The pricing tool for both companies are not the best. RxCut’s pricing tool is a little cumbersome to use but it does have the capability of adding multiple prescriptions and getting the best price for all of them combined. That is a feature that is not available on any other rx savings card pricing tool that I’m aware of.
Make sure to check out my other recommended prescription discount cards to see which one offers the best price on your medication(s).
How do you use a prescription discount card at CVS?
To use a prescription discount card at any pharmacy the process is the same.
- Show the billing codes from the card, website, or app to the pharmacy technician to add to your pharmacy profile.
- If you have insurance ask the technician to use the discount card to see if the price is cheaper than your copay. If you are paying out of pocket then ask them to use the discount card to lower the price.
- Pay the discounted price at the register and go home happy
Hate high prices AND long lines?
Are you interested in getting your medications at an extremely low price AND delivered free to your door? Read my review of Blink Health and get the details.