The tug of war between discount cards is not a new concept, comparing and figuring out which one is the right fit for you can be confusing and complicated. Thankfully, when it comes to this battle I have done all the homework for you.
For most individuals Blink Health is going to be the clear winner due to the larger selections of medications, more ways to get your prescription, and excellent discounts without a membership fee.
When to use a prescription discount service.
Blink Health and GoodRx Gold are prescription discount services that can be used to drastically reduce your prescription costs. There are many scenarios where it’s beneficial to utilize these services including:
- Your prescription cost is too high through insurance
- Your medication is not covered by insurance
- You are waiting for a prior authorization
- You’re stuck in that dreaded medicare part D donut hole
- You are uninsured.
- You have a high deductible prescription insurance plan
How a prescription discount service works.
Both Blink Health and GoodRx Gold use group pricing power to negotiate lower medication prices with their network pharmacies. In exchange for the increased business, that the pharmacy may not otherwise get due to ridiculously high prices, the pharmacy agrees to offer customers of these services lower prices and takes a smaller profit.
How do Blink Health and GoodRx Gold compare?
Understanding prescription costs can be daunting, this overview will give you necessary information concisely compiled to compare these two discount prescription drug services.
| Blink Health | GoodRx Gold | |
| Cost of Service | A+ | F |
| Ease of Use | B+ | A |
| Ease of Refill | B | A |
| Discount | A+ (up to 95%) | A (up to 90%) |
| # of drugs covered | A | D |
| Pharmacy Network | C | D |
| Additional Features | A+ | C |
TheFrugalPharmacist pick: Blink Health
Read my full, in-depth review of Blink Health and get our exclusive savings offer.
Cost of Service
Blink Health: A+
Blink Health is a technology company that introduces some innovative new services, many of which are not available through alternative discount programs. Accessing the negotiated discount prices is FREE and completely transparent. You know what the cost of your medication will be immediately.
GoodRx Gold: F
GoodRx Gold operates in a more traditional approach to their discount service. They operate just like a regular prescription discount card, but have much lower pricing than most, but there’s a catch.
GoodRx Gold charges a monthly membership fee of $5.99 for individuals and $9.99 for up to 5 family members to access their discounted prices. I must mention they do offer a Free 30 day trial. For most individuals the cost of the membership is not worth it since you can get similar prices with other FREE prescription discount cards or services.
Ease of use
Blink Health: B+
With Blink Health you first price out your medication on their website or app and if you decide the price is acceptable you then purchase a code that you take to the pharmacy.
After your enter the medication name, strength, and quantity, the first step involves selecting a price option from the following choices:
After you select which price and dispensing option you want, you will continue through where you will be prompted to set up an account.
Once all the technical information is filled out and squared away, Blink Health will send you a personalized discount card through email or on the app. Which you can use in the pharmacy by printing it out or showing them the image on your phone.
The next step allows you to pay for your prescription quickly and easily online. Once that money is spent, you can go to the pharmacy you had selected through your price options.
The Blink Card can then be shown to the pharmacist at the pharmacy or from one of the pharmacy chains based on the pricing options you selected. The codes on the Blink card will be used when filling the prescription instead of using your insurance or charging the cash price.
When you go to the register to pick up the prescription, you will have no charge since you took care of that all online before even leaving your house!
Alternatively, if you select the route of receiving the prescription through their home delivery service, you cut out many steps of this process. You should make sure that they have a prescription directly from your doctor or available refills at your pharmacy that they can transfer. Once these steps are taken care of the process becomes a lot simpler.
Ultimately, you are all finished once you have paid for the prescription.
GoodRx Gold: A
GoodRx Gold operates more like a traditional prescription discount card. You show your card or codes from the app to the pharmacy staff and they will adjudicate your prescription to get the negotiated discount.
If you want to know the cost ahead of time, you have to go to their price lookup tab and search on their site for the medication you’re trying to receive. You continue through selecting the form, strength, and quantity.
There is a difference in the two options for pricing they offer. It comes down to which pharmacy you want to use to get your prescription. This dictates the price once you select the pharmacy you want to use during this process.
GoodRx pricing breakdown:
As previously indicated, GoodRx has two pricing options available to choose from. CVS and CVS Target pharmacies are one price, and the other option offered is to use one of their other contracted pharmacies.
There are pharmacies listed to select from, but they also give you the opportunity to view other additional pharmacies if the specific one you are looking for is not listed. Not all pharmacies use this service so it’s possible the pharmacy you use may not be an option.
To sure you are getting the lowest price offered through the program, you have to go to their price lookup tab and search on their site for the medication you are trying to receive.
Once the pharmacy you wish to use is selected, the cost will be available to be viewed. Then similarly to Blink Health, you will have a specific GoodRx Gold Card to give to the pharmacy to bill instead of your insurance.
Unlike, Blink Health the GoodRx Gold card is good for multiple uses as long as your membership is paid and current. With GoodRx Gold you pay the monthly membership but also have to pay the cost of the medication when you pick up your prescription at the pharmacy.
Handling Refills
Blink Health: B
Blink Health follows the same steps each fill. To get a refill using Blink Health you will have to go through a few steps.
- Sign in to your Blink Health account
- Go to the “Your Medications Tab” and select the correct medication
- Pay for the refill
- Request your pharmacy to refill your prescription
- Go pick it up when it’s ready
The ability to pay for your medicine ahead of time before heading to the pharmacy can be very appealing. This concept is very fitting of societies push towards a more efficient working environment. Cutting back on the overall time spent when picking up your prescription at the register.
GoodRx Gold: A
Refilling a medication with GoodRx Gold is just like having regular insurance. Just have to call ahead to the pharmacy for them to fill your refill. Like usual just make sure that they run the prescription through the GoodRx Gold prescription card. Then when your orders ready you just pick it up at the register and pay.
Pro Tip:
One thing to keep in mind is that medication prices are continually changing, so it is a good idea to double check the price through GoodRx Gold before heading off to the pharmacy. If not be wary when picking up your prescription that the pricing could fluctuate and change after the first time you look the price up.
Which has the best discount?
Determining which service offers the best discount for your medications is a complicated issue that includes many factors such as, the specific medication you need and if there are any participating pharmacies in your area.
Blink Health: A+
Blink Health offers savings of up to 95% off of the cash prices of your medications. Now don’t be fooled, you won’t get that deal on every medication.
Realistically, there is only a small amount of very inexpensive generics that max savings will apply to. With over 15,000 medications they have negotiated prices on there is a strong chance you will certainly get a good deal.
Blink Health has multiple pricing options and routes of obtaining your prescription, which may differ depending on the specific drug selected. Home delivery is only available for a small portion of the medications on their site.
Both of these paths start out online where you specify what medicine you need (they include the ability to adjust the doses and strengths).
Once you find your medications, your next option is to select the route of receiving the prescription which each offer a unique price.
Their pricing options available through Blink Health are as follows:
- The Blink Everyday Low price allows you to choose which of their contracted pharmacies you wanted to give your business. So if you have a specific pharmacy you want to use, that participates with Blink Health, you can still get prescriptions through them and you are not locked into just one option.
- The Blink Smart Deal lowers pharmacy options but offers an additional cut to cost. You can still adjust the specific location that is convenient for you, but it will tell you which pharmacy this price is available through.
- The Blink Home Delivery Price which is only available on specific medications that are stocked in their mail order pharmacy. The drug is shipped with FREE two-day shipping. They do not offer home delivery for drugs that are controlled substances or narcotics.
To see if your medication is qualified you just have to search for the specific medicine and home delivery will be among one of the options.
Alternatively, if it’s not available that way you would just have to go to one of the local pharmacies to pick up the medication.
GoodRx Gold: A
GoodRx Gold states it saves members up to 90% off of the cash price of prescription medications. This is misleading because there are only 1000 drugs with discounted prices available through GoodRx Gold. The good news is that all 1000 of those drugs have a price of less than $10.
So how does the pricing of each site stack up?
Here is an example pricing for a specific medication for each category through Blink Health and GoodRx Gold. The tables show a side by side comparison of the price of Atorvastatin 40 mg (30 tablets) which is a commonly used medication. Also included in the table is the percentage of savings from the cash price.
Blink Health: Average Cash Price $49.35 GoodRX Gold: Average Cash Price varied from pharmacy to pharmacy*
| Blink Health | ||
| The Blink Everyday Low price | $8.93 | 82% |
| The Blink Smart Deal | $7.59 | 85% |
| The Blink Home Delivery Price | $4.99 | 90% |
| GoodRx Gold | ||
| CVS or CVS Target location | $ 13.01 | 74% |
| Other contracted pharmacy | $ 5.65 | 89% |
* to compare percentage Blink Average Cash Price was used
To be able to compare the percentage off of the drug the average cash price obtained from Blink Health was used. On GoodRx Gold’s website, they show the rate compared to each individual pharmacies actual cash price. So the percentages listed for each medication price is slightly skewed positively in their favor.
What drugs are covered?
Blink Health has a list of medications they have discounted prices for. So you can price your medication before signing up. GoodRx Gold does not have a full list to view of the medicines they negotiated lower prices on. They do let you look up prices before signing up, but you must type each individual medication into the search to view the prices that are available.
Blink Health lists that they have discounts on over 15,000 prescription medications. In contrast GoodRx Gold’s website lists that they provide discounts on over 1,000 prescription medications. Which is a quite an extensive difference.
What pharmacies allow me to use these discount cards?
When comparing the diagram, you need to take into account that Blink Health did not list all of their pharmacies but do state they have over 30,000 pharmacies in their network. The diagram shows all the pharmacies that were indicated on the GoodRx Gold website.
Some notable observations in pharmacy networks are:
- Walmart DOES participate with Blink Health but not with GoodRx Gold
- CVS DOES participate with GoodRx Gold but not with Blink Health
- Walgreens and Rite Aid DO NOT participate with either service
Special features make the difference
Each service offers some additional “perks” to their members but this is one category where Blink Health blows away the competition.
Blink Health: A+
- Full function mobile app
- Price Matching, Low Price Guarantee
- Fully refundable purchases
- Free Home Delivery on select medications
- Roche Diabetes Care Program
- Program through their company that works to make diabetes care more affordable
- Referral program: Free drugs by referring friends and family
- NO MEMBERSHIP FEE
GoodRx Gold: C
- Full function mobile app
- 30 day free trial
- $10 Online physician consultations
- Discounted dental and lab services
- 20% off diabetic supplies
- Vet meds discount
Is price matching available?
Blink Health includes a price match guarantee! If you find a lower price on a prescription Blink will match the price and send you the difference. Only Generic prescriptions qualify, and they do not include opioid analgesics.
This price matching even includes discount coupon websites that do not charge a membership. Including GoodRx (not GoodRx Gold), Lowest Med along with many others under the condition that their coupon is able to be used at one of your local pharmacies (not through a mail-order pharmacy or through insurance).
They specify that their price matching is different when it comes to the home delivery option. The total price that is compared must include shipping costs from another U.S. based mail order pharmacy.
To receive the price match, you must submit a claim to Blink health within 28 days of your prescription purchase through Blink. Within 10 days they will apply a refund to your account.
The GoodRx Gold does not delve into any type of price matching ability. They talk about being able to cancel your membership to stop future billing. They only touch on how much they discount the medications up to 90% of the pharmacy’s cash price. But no refund policy is listed.
GoodRx Gold website claims that their prices are usually very accurate. They state if there is an issue with the pricing to first double check the medication you need, is matching what you entered when you searched the price (dose, quantity, form). The next path to review is if it was received from the correct pharmacy you had selected (CVS/CVS Target or another participating pharmacy).
Additional discount opportunities
GoodRx Gold offers additional resources at your disposal. These include discounts through:
- Lemonaid Health
- For the cost of $10, you can have an online visit with a physician receive prescriptions for medications for many basic health needs.
- This opportunity is limited to select states (be sure to double check)
- Dentalplans.com
- Discounts on dental plans
- Can save 10 to 60% on procedures
- Gold members receive an additional 15% and one month free on any plan
- Heartland Veterinary Supply and Pharmacy
- Receive additional savings on pet supplies, prescriptions and more
- TotalDiabetesSupply.com
- 20% off certain diabetic supplies
- Personal Labs
- Save 20% off common lab tests (over 300 different lab tests)
- Iramar Vision
- Save 20% on glasses (frames and lenses)
Blink Health Referral Program:
Blink Health offers a unique opportunity to earn extra savings through a referral program. They allow you to share a unique code to distribute to friends and family through various social media or email.
Both sides win on this deal, the individual who shared the invitation receives $15 dollars off their next purchase. While the new member purchasing the medication through the shared link or with the unique code (linked to the original member) at checkout, receives extra savings on their first prescription. The $15 off is not available until the new member picks-up their medication from the pharmacy or the medication is delivered.
Important key ideas:
A prescription from your prescriber is needed to use each service. Once the prescriber has sent the prescription to the pharmacy, or wherever you are filling the medicine, you can use these discount options to help cover the costs.
It is essential to give whichever service’s discount card to the pharmacist at the pharmacy you are using so that they are sure to bill the prescription correctly. Also, keep in mind to relay to your pharmacist the specific prescription you want to be charged through the discount card.
Make sure when using GoodRx Gold to double check that the prescription was run through the discount card and not through your insurance. If the pricing is still incorrect as to what you had expected it’s best to double check the website to ensure everything you entered was correct. If everything is right a call to GoodRx Gold would be a good idea to find out why it is different.
If you are using Blink Health the part of worrying about the pricing through the pharmacy is taken out of the equation. You just have to remember to pay online before heading to the pharmacy.
Can I use Blink Health or GoodRx Gold if I have insurance or Medicare?
Blink Health and GoodRx Gold are alternative methods to save on prescription costs instead of going through your insurance or Medicare. The best route is to compare what the price is through your insurance or your Medicare insurance card.
You can find this out by having the pharmacy run the prescription through and dispensing the cheaper option, or by directly calling your insurance or visiting their website.
Something to keep in mind, is if you are using the discount cards because the price through insurance is too high due to a deductible, using a discount card does not help you pay it off. You would still have to utilize your coverage to chip away at your deductible cost.
It is possible to try and submit your prescription receipts to your insurance. Just give your insurance a call and see if this is something they accept.
Keep in mind that the discount cards cannot be combined with your insurance or Medicare. You must find out which one is cheaper and a better option to use by utilizing one of these methods discussed.
How do these discount services keep their cost so low?
Both companies work with all sides of the pharmaceutical industry to achieve these discounts. They make deals with pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies to pass these deals down. While the pharmacies receive more customers directed to their stores.
Brand prescription cost coverage:
Blink Health does cover brand prescriptions if there is not a generic alternative available. They still work on negotiating brand drug pricing as well. However, since brand medications are much more expensive than generics, the cash cost will be significantly higher.
GoodRx Gold does cover brand prescriptions as well and indicates that the price is lower than just paying cash. But they recommend double checking the price to see if it is cheaper through your insurance.
Additionally, if their pricing is still very high, they refer you to their GoodRx discount coupons instead as they have a more thorough approach to handling brand prescription medication costs.
GoodRx Gold vs. GoodRx:
GoodRx Gold also has a non-membership fee site called GoodRx that offers discount coupons. The GoodRx coupons allow savings up to 80% rather than the up to 90% provided through GoodRx Gold.
GoodRx has indicated that it can be used in almost every U.S. pharmacy. As opposed to the limited pharmacies you can use through GoodRx Gold. The drawback to GoodRx is that you have to shop around and compare prices.
Final comparison of Blink Health and GoodRx Gold
Blink Health allows you to purchase online, so when you’re paying there is no surprise, it is shown and taken care of before you leave your house. For GoodRx Gold the price is indicated online, but you do not pay the price until you are picking up your prescription at the register of the pharmacy.
Blink Health allows for the three pricing options to get their lowest price and allow prescriptions delivered right to your door. So this site allows more flexibility on how to receive your medications and more control over your prescription opportunities.
Blink Health clearly shows each of the three options to analyze the information and make a decision quickly. To see pricing on GoodRx Gold, you must select what pharmacy you want to use to know the price you would pay.
Blink health also allows you to select the general category of their contracted pharmacies. So you do no select a specific pharmacy before you pay the price.
Thus this provides additional opportunities if the pharmacy you try to get your prescription through is out of the medication you are not stuck. You can easily use another of their contracted pharmacy without any additional steps through Blink Health.
GoodRx Gold has varying prices at each pharmacy so if your prescription is not in stock at your preferred pharmacy you may end up paying a higher price at another pharmacy.