We Asked Our Grooviest Intern to Give Us an Unbiased Assessment…

Turns out, she had it in for us.

Our yoga-loving, organic eating, never-takes-medicine-ever intern was skeptical about our program’s efficiency. Being the martyrs that we are, we asked her to play devil’s advocate and see how our product and service stacked up against the competition.  

After reading America’s Most Popular Drugs according to Forbes magazine (May 11, 2010), she was set to the task of researching the average cost of the top ten drugs on that list, comparing and contrasting across-the-board pricing for people with and without insurance. While cost varies tremendously from place to place, we wanted an educated estimate for each.

At first, she returned triumphantly and announced that there were online drug companies that sold name-brand equivalent medications for less than what we could offer – no prescription needed and no questions asked. She also located some very nice resources in Canada.

But when asked, “What can you tell us about the quality control and integrity of a company selling prescription drugs without a doctor’s consent?” and “So, how much did those non-FDA-approved meds go for – with shipping – from Canada?” She came up a little empty.

To be fair, she dutifully went back to the drawing board, this time, only using trustworthy (and accessible) pharmacies such as Walgreens, CVS, Walmart and Rite Aid – places where we wouldn’t have to question if those medications were what the advertiser said they were.

Here’s a sample of what she found:

Crestor (high cholesterol)                            10mg                     $69 per month / 30 (quantity)

Diovan (HBP)                                             80 mg                    $80 / 30

Effexor XR (depression)                              75 mg                    $92 / 30

Actos (diabetes)                                         30 mg                    $61 / 30

Nexium (GERD)                                          40 mg                    $215 / 30             

Premarin (estrogen)                                   1.25 mg                  $58 / 30                               

Lipitor (cholesterol)                                     10 mg                    $84 / 30                               

Synthroid (hormone)                                   20 mcg                  $41 / 30                                                               

Tricor (cholesterol)                                      145 mg                  $45 / 30               

Micardis (HBP)                                            40 mg                    $104/ 30

We then plugged those names and quantities into our EquivaMeds database, here’s what we discovered:

Crestor Equivalent drug                              $15.80 per month / $640 annual savings

Diovan Equivalent drug                              $7 / $875

Effexor XR Equivalent drug                         $55 / $444                                                                           

Actos Equivalent drug                                 $12 / $587

Nexium Equivalent drug                              $147 / $808        

Premerin Equivalent drug                            $6 / $635                             

Lipitor Equivalent drug                                $18 / $575                           

Synthroid Equivalent drug                            $11 / $352                                                           

Tricor Equivalent drug                                  $14 / $373           

Micardis Equivalent drug                               $8 / $1156

With an average savings of nearly $645 per year, even our groovy intern had to admit that we were on to something.

First, the one-two punch that brought us down…

The December 2007 recession contributed to a dramatic rise in unemployment in the United States, leaving many people without benefits and – as a result – proper medical care. Floridians were hit particularly hard as the state went from a 3.8% to a 12% rate of unemployment over the last decade. Combine that with the BP oil spill on April 20, 2011 and you’ve got declining incomes in the Southern United States due to lack of tourism – the prime economic-boosting industry in the state. In short, those that were working, were working harder for less money.

Meanwhile, the health care industry is faced with an increase in chronic conditions among adults – partially due to individuals lacking the ability to afford preventative care – resulting in greater spending by employers trying to cover the ongoing costs in the form of benefits.

With both insured and uninsured Floridians being unable to take preventative steps in their own health and well-being, this lack of care eventually translates into more doctor’s visits, hospitalization and an overall increase in both physical problems and medical costs – Costs which could have been prevented had that patient been able to get the prescription drugs that they needed before the problem escalated.

Making a comeback in the fifth round…

What people may not know is that from 1999-2005, America saw a drop in the cost of prescriptions due to generic drugs being introduced on the market and insurance companies offering tiered co-pays. Our overall spending went from 18% to 6%.

Then, In 2006, that rate went back up to 9% due to designer drugs and better medications to replace those with potentially harmful long-term side-effects. More expensive, yes, but still better overall because now we have the potential of more effective, generic drugs available at a fraction of the cost.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, approximately 80% of drugs currently have a generic equivalent. If that’s the case, why aren’t we using them?

This brings us back to what we’ve been saying all along – the BetterRxCard discount drug program provides an alternative to high-cost drugs, and Equivameds can help find the generic equivalent to otherwise expensive designer medications. Now, employers, the insured and the uninsured can afford benefits that include better quality preventative drugs.

Reduced Spending = Preventative Care = Healthier Floridians

See the trend?

We suspect that you would.

The BetterRxCard is the first program that goes beyond the traditional methods offered by other discount drug cards with its patent-pending service we call EquivaMeds, a feature unique from every other discount card program.

According to Kaiser Family Foundation, 58% of Americans have some type of monthly prescription drug cost – that’s five times the percentage of those who are uninsured with the same month drug cost.

By combining EquivaMeds with the BetterRxCard program, your local population can save up to 90% off of otherwise expensive prescription drugs. The average annual savings is nearly $900 per year.

You’ve heard of smart phones? How about smart databases?

Created by a physician, EquivaMeds is a collection of smart databases that search for drug options a doctor might prescribe while also taking into consideration the drug’s cost. This data is compiled and sent to the user in a one- to two-page, easy-to-understand report. The user can present it to their doctor or EquivaMeds can fax it on their behalf. More than 95% of physicians that have received an EquivaMeds report have approved the new drug for their patient.

Members of your local population will never be left wondering if there’s a cheaper drug option for them and you won’t have to spend hours researching prescription drugs, comparing and contrasting their cost vs. benefits.

EquivaMeds does the legwork for you.

For a limited time, we are waiving the sponsorship fee for using the EquivaMeds service. Since you’ll be helping 58% of your clients, customer base or community save thousands of dollars annually, that’s more than just a $19.95 savings – that’s a goldmine.

Interested in becoming one of our partners? Click here for more information.

The BetterRxCard is the most comprehensive of any prescription card program. There are ten key tactical components to our initiative. Combined, they give counties the support necessary to provide a successful program to their community members.

1) EquivaMeds — You cannot use any discount drug card program if you already have insurance … unless you have the BetterRxCard.

Ours is the first program that doesn’t limit benefits to only the uninsured. EquivaMeds is a collection of smart databases created by a physician that search for options a doctor might prescribe for a certain drug while at the same time carefully measuring cost savings. More than 95% of physicians receiving this information from EquivaMeds have approved the lower cost options recommended for their patient. Combining EquivaMeds with the BetterRxCard program extends potential benefits to more people – 4.7 times more people – than any other discount card program. EquivaMeds can’t help everyone, but with thousands of the most popular brand name prescription drugs in our databases, we can help many people save an awful lot of money. The most recent average annual savings per user at their pharmacy was more than $800.

2) Best Discounts — Every discount drug card has a pharmacy benefit vendor that performs the claims processing and provides the pharmacy network. Most have selected a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) as the basis for their card programs. After reviewing dozens of PBM offers we chose not to use a PBM at all. Instead, we chose the new and different breed known as a pharmacy benefit administrator (PBA).

Unlike PBMs, PBAs do not have direct relationships with pharmaceutical companies, eliminating rebate controversy or secretive payments for operating special programs for which compensation is received. PBAs are paid only a small administrative fee for adjudicating the claim. This helps keep systemic costs under control while providing a lower cost at the pharmacy for the cardholder.

3) No Limits. No Kidding — To make it easy for cardholders and partners we offer the following attributes:

· Free to the cardholder

· Free for the county

· No registration

· No personal information ever required for our discount card

· No age, income or residency limitations

· No expiration date

· No annual card limits

· Bilingual cards

· 40+ English and individually translated Spanish web pages

· Toll-free customer service

4) Co-branded Card Printing – BetterRxCard provides printed, co-branded cards that include a unique numbering system that tracks how the card is being used. It’s a strategic way of measuring the effectiveness of the program and it helps counties understand the needs of their community better.

5) Stock, Re-load and Distribute – When you become a partner with us, we won’t leave you stranded. We’ll spend two days on location helping promote the program. We’ll make sure that local county offices, pharmacies and like-minded organizations are stocked with our discount drug cards, and we’ll make sure they stay stocked.

6) Meet the Press — From press releases to press conferences, we’ll craft a message to help get the word out, and repeat the process several months later. This will help keep your community informed and reinforce your message.

7) Content Sharing – We’ll help provide content for your website that correlates to our BetterRxCard online landing page. People will always know that they can trust you for cutting edge information because you’ll be linking back to our website. We pride ourselves on providing our customers with the most up-to-date information available.

8) Web Presence and Search – Our website is search engine optimized. We consistently rank at the top of Internet search results with the heavy-hitters such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. We’re keyword specific and update our site with relevant content daily. By linking to your site, that helps your web presence as well.

9) Newsletter – In addition to our streamlined web search plan, we also publish a newsletter. This optional customer communication is received electronically by more than one thousand customers who have voluntarily opted-in to receive our beneficial updates, and that number is growing daily.

10) Social Networking – We’re actively spreading the word about the BetterRxCard, EquivaMeds and our partners on Facebook, Twitter and virtual health forums.

Interested in becoming a partner? Learn more here.