Check it out and start saving on your prescription drugs now!

There are a number of good, money-saving prescription drug card programs out there, which eDrugSearch.com will tell you about in our upcoming e-book. But there are also some scams out there — which ABC investigated in this report. An excerpt:

More than 45 million Americans do not have prescription drug insurance. And some have turned to online prescription drug service companies that offer help getting prescription drugs inexpensively in exchange for a fee. Online companies promoting cheap prescription drugs may be misleading…

Without insurance, Andrea [Melnick] was left to try and get pricey epilepsy medications, which cost up to $800 a month, on her own. Andrea looked for help online and found a company called Select Care Benefits Network.

“It sounded perfect,” she said. “It says on their Web site you can get your drugs cheaper.” She said the company offered to get all her drugs for just $30 a month. Andrea paid the company a total of $365, but over the next 10 months, she received only one voucher for a two-month supply of one of her drugs…

According to the Better Business Bureau, when she complained, Andrea became only one of 111 people who filed complaints against the company. Brandon Todd, president of Select Care Benefits Network, told “Good Morning America” that he was “aware” of the complaints, but claimed the company completed its services.

The ABC report advised consumers to try the Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA), a program run by Big Pharma that helps people like Andrea, who meet income and other eligibility requirements. Andrea could have simply gone here to get started.

Unfortunately, as eDrugSearch.com members well know, most Americans without prescription drug insurance do not meet the requirements for PPA assistance.

If you can learn to take advantage of drug store rebates, you will find yourself getting a lot of free stuff for your money and winding up with merchandise whose total retail value greatly surpasses what you spent out of pocket.

Ever since I discovered and started actively using drug store rebates, my frugal living life has been transformed for the better. No longer am I paying shocking $3-4 dollars prices for ordinary household items like a roll of toothpaste. I’m not even resorting to generic store brands either. I’m simply taking advantage of the many store rebate deals offered by well known drug store franchises like CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens. Most of these major chains offer great rebates and deals, usually published weekly or monthly.

The blog reports that while the major drug chains mark up their prices significantly higher than supermarkets, they more than make up for it with their rebate offers. They can afford to do this because, statistically, very few people actually follow through and collect their rebates.

Here’s the skinny on the Big Three:

1) CVS – Extra Care Bucks – (Weekly Store Ads) – To find out what items offer CVS Extra Care Bucks (ECB), you will need to take a look each Sunday when the weekly store ads renew. CVS’s rebate program is the best and simply requires you to scan your loyalty card everytime you make a purchase. They are unique in that they offer the Extra Care Bucks as store credit immediately rather than requiring you to clumsily mail receipts in. The store rebate coupon is printed out at the bottom of your store receipt whenever you purchase a rebate item. There is no rebate waiting period anymore. They are available to you right away and you can immediately turn around and flip them into yet another product, potentially yielding even more Extra Care Bucks…

2) Rite Aid – Single Check Rebates – (Weekly Circular) – At the start of each month, Rite Aid publishes a booklet, viewable online, in which it highlights the rewards/rebate offers for the month. Rite Aid offers a traditional rebate program in which customers have to request rebates by providing receipt information to redeem. However, here is the best part – Rite Aid offers an easy and no brainer way for customers to request rebates online rather than having to manually mail them in through snail mail … You can always view your rebate balance online as well.

3) Walgreens – Easy Saver Catalog – (Weekly Ad) – Walgreens publishes their Easy Saver rebate deals in their monthly rebate booklet where they list products with rebate promotions including items that are free after rebate. They also offer Register Rewards every now and then, which operates similar to that of CVS Extra Care Bucks in that you can use the printed coupons for free products on your next purchase for qualifying items.

Read more about it here.

1. Start with a heart-to-heart with your doctor … Tell him or her, honestly, how much you can afford to spend on medication … In the end, you may find you just don’t need some of the drugs you’re taking.

2. Ask about generics. These are usually much, much cheaper than brand-name drugs, says Steven Findlay … The cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor, he says, is a good example. It costs $95 to $100 a month. A generic alternative, such as Simvastatin, is about $30.

3. Check out the $4 generics many stores now offer. Those lists expand periodically, Findlay says. And more stores are offering them…

4. Don’t forget over-the-counter medicines. … Consider them especially for allergies and occasional bouts of insomnia and heartburn.

5. Don’t “ask your doctor” like all those ads tell you to… Advertised drugs are expensive, and we often don’t need them.

6. Be cautious about accepting free samples. Drug companies don’t give samples to doctors for every medication, just those that bring in the greatest profits…

7. Search the Web. You probably won’t find generics for less online, but you can save 10 to 30 percent on some brand-name medications if you buy them from reputable drugstores that sell over the Internet, Findlay says. “You will cut the brick-and-mortar — the overhead — costs,” he says. Shop around, though. Prices vary.

8. Turn to Canada. Generics are cheaper here than there. But when it comes to brand-name drugs, you can save significantly, according to Findlay, especially if you’re on two or three medications. You can find Canadian pharmacies online, too. “Don’t go to the fly-by-nights,” Findlay says. “Go to the biggies. They’re not too hard to find.” And don’t worry. Buying drugs from Canada won’t get you in trouble with the law, Findlay says, as long as you’re buying them for yourself and you have a prescription.

9. Look into Prescription Assistance Programs. Pharmaceutical companies typically offer them to provide free or low-cost drugs to people who lack prescription drug coverage … But you must meet certain income guidelines, and the application process can be time-consuming…

10. Consider pill-splitting. Sometimes a pill that’s double the dose isn’t double the price. So you can split it in half and save money. Be careful, though … always check with your doctor first.

Be wary of drug-discount cards or plans that charge fees, experts said. And watch out for hidden costs. Some scammers have made money by “helping” people sign up for discount programs that are actually available for free, the attorney general’s office reports. In 2005, the attorney general sued Senior Rx Support of Dallas, a mail-order prescription service, for offering to help with discount forms for a fee, and then asked participants to lie about their income.

Stay away from companies that charge a fee for information on free or low-cost drug programs — that information is free from your doctor, pharmacist or an organization called the Partnership for Prescription Assistance, the FTC says.

The paper recommends asking the following eight questions before buying a discount card:

1. Is there an income or age limit?

2. Who does the plan cover?

3. Is there a fee?

4. What is the copayment, if there is one?

5. Do you have to use a “participating pharmacy,” and where are those pharmacies?

6. Does the plan cover brand-name and generic drugs?

7. Can I get a detailed description of the card’s coverage?

8. What are the options for canceling this card?