New Type of Pharmacy Discount Card to Launch in January

Chris Crawford, CEO Rx Save Card

Rx Save Card announced via a news release that initial funding for their company is now complete, thanks to $1.7 million in funding, led by healthcare venture company Distributed Ventures. The card will be available for use on Jan. 1, 2025.

In today’s insurance market, employees have two options when it comes to buying their prescriptions – they can pay out of pocket using discount cards or they can use their employers’ insurance company, which operates using a pharmacy benefit manager.

“In a PBM contract, the PBM restricts which pharmacies you could purchase drugs from, or that your employees can purchase drugs from,” Chris Crawford, co-founder and CEO of Rx Save Card explained in an interview with Managed Healthcare Executive. “It also dictates the price of which those drugs the employer is going to pay.”

Rx Save Card will operate by filling the gap between these options. It will work as part of the covered pharmacy benefit in the employer’s insurance plan. Using this card, participating employers can load a preselected amount onto the card every month.

The employee can then choose to purchase the drug through their employer’s insurance or pay out of pocket. If the employee chooses to buy a drug through their insurance, a claim is still processed and the pharmacy gets paid at the point of sale.

If the employee chooses to pay out of pocket, the Rx Save Card automatically searches deals from multiple discount cards, so they can choose the cheapest option.

“Most of the time, employees are going to walk away with a drug for free, and the employer is also going to save money because they're paying us for the same drug at the same pharmacy,” Crawford said.

In the cases where the PBM option is cheaper, Crawford urgers employees to take advantage of the better price.

“That's the beauty of this - we don't buy everything in our daily lives from one store or one place, so why should we have that same attitude when it comes to prescription drugs?”

There are more than 65,000 participating pharmacies. This includes online pharmacies such as the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company.

Crawford said a service like Rx Save Card is especially relevant after the recent Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) lawsuit against Johnson and Johnson that claimed they failed to negotiate the lowest possible prices for the plan and participants in their PBM services agreement. The complaint goes on to say this increased premiums, deductibles, copayments and cost-sharing.

“The ERISA lawsuit really pointed out that's it’s not fair to the consumers,” Crawford said. “If I'm a person paying for a drug and anybody without insurance could buy that same exact drug for a fraction of the price, I’m harmed as an individual. What we're doing is saying that when those drugs are less expensive through discount cards at your local pharmacy, why should I have to pay more through my PBM? We've allowed a way for employers to fund a portion of those payments.”