From a certified pharmacy technician · 20 years behind the counter

Stop overpaying for prescriptions.

The same pill can have four different prices. Most insurance denials are paperwork. Nobody at the counter is going to volunteer any of it. I wrote down everything I used to tell people, one question at a time.

Paperback $14.99 · Kindle $4.99 · Free to read with Kindle Unlimited

The Smart Pharmacy Guide book cover
Free download

The paper system I wish every patient walked up to the counter with.

Ten printable pages: a medication master list, a weekly dose checklist, a refill calendar, a symptom journal, a vitals log, and the ten questions that save the most money at the pharmacy. Print as many copies as you need.

One email with the download link, plus an occasional note when a new kit or a Medicare change is worth knowing about. Unsubscribe any time.
The book

What you would learn if you stood behind the counter for twenty years.

Written in plain language for the person picking up the prescriptions: patients on three or more medications, and the adult children managing a parent's.

4
prices for the same pill
Retail, insurance, discount card, and the $4 list. Which one you pay depends on one question you were never told to ask.
Denied
usually means a form is missing
Prior authorizations, step therapy, quantity limits, and the exact words that get them cleared. Most denials are paperwork, not medicine.
Free
brand-name medication exists
Manufacturer patient assistance programs give away millions of doses a year. How to find them and how to apply, step by step.
Josh Hagar, CPhT
About the author

Josh Hagar, CPhT

Twenty years as a certified pharmacy technician, most of it at the counter where the price comes up and the conversation starts. I watched the same problems repeat: a daughter who couldn't tell the ER what her mom takes, a patient paying three copays when two would do, a refill that ran out on a Sunday. Almost none of it was medical. It was organization, and knowing what to ask. This site is everything I used to say across the counter, written down.