GREENSBORO, N.C. — Maryanne perry has COPD. She basically needs an inhaler to live. She lost her insurance last summer and missed a deadline to enroll in Medicare part D.
Her copay jumped from $50 dollars to $1,000 dollars a month. And she's not alone. A CDC report shows that 1-in-10 Americans is simply avoiding buying prescriptions to deal with the costs. The Senate is discussing a potential solution called the affordable medications act. But another company might be able to help.
Hellohippo has more than two million signups. It uses its large consumer base to negotiate discounts with pharmacies and others in the supply chain. Sometimes the price is less than an insurance copay.
"This is one of the only industries where we still have no idea how much we are going to pay when we get to the cash register. If we want to drive prices down we have to be able to inform and empower consumers," says MJ Hegar, a Texas Senate candidate and patient advocate for Hello Hippo.
For a link to their website, click here.
For more ways to save on your prescriptions, check the article below.