Clark Howard

Warehouse club offers 600 prescription drugs for $10 or less

Studies have shown that about a third of patients who leave the doctor's office with a new prescription don't get it filled — often because the medication is just too expensive.

To avoid sticker shock at the pharmacy counter, Clark recommends using savings apps like GoodRx and LowestMed.

Read more: How I save 75% on prescription drugs

Cheap prescription drugs for Sam’s Club Plus members

If you’re not familiar with these products, they allow you to easily search nearby pharmacies for discounts and coupons that you didn’t know existed.

But you may not need to do all that searching to save money because your pharmacy may have its own discount program.

For example, Sam's Club is now offering more than 600 medications for $10 or less to Sam's Plus members. Five of the drugs are free, 200 are $4 and 400 are $10 each — all for a 30-day supply.

Here’s a list of the free medications for Sam’s Plus members:

  • Donepezil: 30-day supply
  • Escitalopram: 30-day supply
  • Pioglitazone: 30-day supply
  • Vitamin D 50,000 IU: 4 caps
  • Finasteride: 30-day supply

Here’s the catch: A Sam’s Plus membership is $100 per year, compared to $45 for a regular membership.

If you're not already a Sam's Plus member, you may need to crunch the numbers to see if the prescription savings would make the higher membership cost worth it.  See the full list of medications here.

Luckily, many other pharmacies — including Walmart and Target — offer their own list of $4 generics.

Money expert Clark Howard suggests that you take the cheap drug list to your doctor’s office and see if your physician can write you a script for one of those affordable medications.

Read more: The easiest way to save on prescription drugs