When it comes to paying for fertility medications, we’re all looking for the most affordable options. However, between coupon clipping and voraciously surfing the web for deals and special offers, it can be time-consuming, frustrating, and ultimately lead to wondering if we’ve really found the best deal out there.

We recently sat down with Dr. Jessica Nouhavandi of Honeybee Health for a little Q&A to talk about why prescription medicines are so expensive and how they are working to eliminate costly overhead, delivering medications straight to consumers at a fraction of the retail price.

Q: What is price-gouging, and how do our readers know if it is happening to them?

A: If you are taking generic medications for common conditions like anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and more, then your medications really shouldn’t cost that much. Most generic medications are very affordable; however, many customers end up overpaying because their copays are often higher than the actual cost of the medication.

“Medication co-pays are higher than the actual cost of the medication!” Dr. Jessica Nouhavandi ofHoneybee Health

Q: What is the difference between brand name and generic drugs?

A: Brand-name and generic medications have the same active ingredients, the same dose, the same strength, the same route of administration, and the same number of pills. The biggest difference is often in the price. Typically, brand name drugs are significantly more expensive.

"For example, Glucophage is the brand-name version of the generic medication metformin. Both have the same active ingredient. But the average retail cost of Glucophage is $45 while the generic metformin only costs around $5 at Honeybee Health."

Q: Are brand name medications superior to generic?

A: Generic medications are just as safe and effective as their brand-name counterparts. In order to get approved by the FDA, generic medications must work the same as the brand. Additionally, only drugs with proven safe ingredients and reliable manufacturing are approved for sale by the FDA. That means generic drugs must follow all of the same safety regulations as brand-name drugs.

In fact, there are many ways in which generic medications might actually be a better choice than the brand. First, generic medications are typically significantly cheaper. In an analysis of ten popular maintenance medications by our medical research team atHoneybee Health, we found that switching to generic medications saves an average of$237 a month.

Second, switching to generic gives you options when it comes to the manufacturer of your medication. A drug goes generic once the patent from the brand-name manufacturer expires. That means there are typically multiple different manufacturers who all make the generic form. This can be an additional benefit because the manufacturer of your medication matters. While the active ingredient always remains the same, other factors can vary between manufacturers—including pill color, shape, size, and inactive ingredients. AtHoneybee Health, we give you a variety of manufacturer options so you can find the best fit for your body.

Q: What are common markups and costs added to the final price of prescriptions, and what do these fees mean? (Ex. “performance fee”)

A: It really depends on the insurance company, and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Often there isn’t a lot of transparency around these added fees. This is a huge problem in the industry, and this is one of the many reasons why Honeybee Health cuts out insurance companies, PBMs, and other middlemen.

Q: How does eliminating the “middleman” drive prices of medications down?

A:The traditional pharmacy business model (PBM) is very complicated and confusing. There are layers of middlemen that come between the pharmacy and the customer buying the medication—and each middlemen layer adds to the price so that they can get a cut. The total markup added to a medication can be as high as 4000%. Insurance companies and PBMs are two examples of middlemen that profit off of a drug every time you buy it from a traditional pharmacy.

Q: Why does actually going through insurance work to consumers’ disadvantage?

A:When a pharmacy works with insurance companies, they are contractually obligated to collect the copay—even though the copay may be higher than the cash / out-of-pocket price of the drug. That’s why at Honeybee, we realized that we needed to create a new system, one where layers of middlemen weren’t artificially driving up prescription prices.

So, we cut them all out and purposefully chose not to work with them, including health insurance companies. Instead, we buy directly from FDA-approved U.S.wholesale distributors (which sell from manufacturers), allowing us to price the medications closer to their true cost. This means that customers using a pharmacy like Honeybee Health can save tremendously, often up to 80%—all without using insurance!

That’s why it’s important to never assume you’re getting the best deal through your insurance. Remember, always use sites like Honeybee Health to compare prices! Often, you’ll find you can save significantly by skipping insurance altogether and paying out-of-pocket at an online pharmacy like Honeybee Health.

Happy shopping!

P.S. For even MORE savings on your first purchase, use the code ANSWERS10 at check out.

We would never back or recommend a product or service that we do not trust and use ourselves. But full disclosure, FertilityAnswers is a Honeybee Health affiliate and may earn money on your purchase.