With the new year comes the start of new annual deductibles for medical insurance. Some might even have an annual pharmacy deductible. As you go to pick up your prescriptions do a little homework and you might possibly save yourself a lot of money. Many pharmaceutical manufacturers offer manufacturer’s coupons to help assist patients with their co pays. If you pay more than $20 a month for a prescription you should check to see if a coupon is available. Now, you may have to be creative with these coupons but they are worth the effort. For example, I just filled a prescription that was for 120 pills at a cost of $205. The manufacturers coupon covered only 90 pills. The pharmacist suggested I just fill the prescription for 90 pills to take advantage of the coupon – which brought the cost down to $103. Yes, that’s a week short of the full prescription but it’s also a pretty significant savings off the price! I’ll refill the prescription in 22 days and save some more money. The other item to consider is mail away pharmacies. Most do not want to take the manufacturer’s coupons so you may have to switch to a local pharmacy to obtain the benefit of the coupon. You’ll have to do the math to see if it is worth it. Here’s another example – the lady behind me at the pharmacy line complained about the cost of her medicine. I looked up the manufacturer on my phone while in line and did find a coupon for her. She was going to her daughters to print it out and bring it back to the pharmacy! This is free money! Why not take advantage of it?