Here’s how to pay the lowest prices for your prescription drugs on Medicare

“You can go to pharmacies that are right down the street from each other and get different prices on your prescription drugs,” said Leigh Purvis, AARP’s senior director for health care costs and access.

Cindy George, senior personal finance editor at GoodRx, a prescription discount card company, said: “People are paying all kinds of prices for the same drug, with the same strength and dose every day.”

Yet it’s vitally important for Medicare beneficiaries to keep their prescription costs down.

At a time when U.S. drug prices are roughly twice as high as in comparable countries, and 42% of people 65 and older take five or more prescriptions, a quarter of people that age report having difficulty affording prescriptions. A 2023 survey by the KFF health research firm found that 11% of Medicare beneficiaries delayed or went without their prescription drugs in the previous year due to cost.

“You really have to do a lot of competitive shopping around,” says Dr. Richard Sagall, president of Needy Meds, a nonprofit offering free information on prescription drug savings. “But if you’re persistent, you can save thousands of dollars.”

You need to compare prescription prices regularly, though, to ensure you’ll get the lowest price every time you order—especially for expensive brand-name medications which can cost thousands of dollars; prices of generics may be 90% lower.

Where to find prescription savings on Medicare

Start by finding the best Medicare Part D plan for the prescriptions you take

That’s smart whether you have Traditional Medicare or a private insurer’s Medicare Advantage plan that includes a Part D component. (If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, you can switch to a…