At Wilson’s Pharmacy, You Can Find Substantial Savings on Prescription Drug Costs
By Nancy Kennedy

Did you know that you can save a lot of money on prescription drug costs by filling your prescriptions at a smaller, independent pharmacy like Wilson’s Pharmacy in Pittsburgh?

If you are having difficulty managing your prescription drug costs, you need to know that there is a little-known alternative approach that can make a big difference, and that alternative is available at Wilson’s Pharmacy. At Wilson’s Pharmacy, patients have the option of paying cash for lower cost generic drugs, and that cash price may be lower than your co-payment would be if you paid in the traditional way, with your Medicare or other health insurance plan.

“It’s entirely possible to get many prescription drugs for far less than your co-payments by switching to generics and paying cash, “ explains Jeffrey Wilson, RPH, owner and pharmacist at Wilson’s Pharmacy. “This is a little known truth but it can make an enormous difference in your healthcare costs.”

That includes your future healthcare costs. For prescriptions that are filled on Medicare Part D, the total amount paid (what the patient pays in co-payment plus the amount your health insurance company pays) goes toward the coverage gap that is often termed “the donut hole” - a gap in your Medicare prescription coverage that temporarily limits what most Medicare Part D drug plans pay for prescription costs. It’s a threshold that you reach when your spending on co-pays reaches a certain amount. While you are in the gap, you will have higher costs. Not everyone falls into the gap but the danger is that for many people, the higher costs are unmanageable and thus they stop taking essential medications. They may find it impossible to get “across the gap” to the next phase of coverage, catastrophic coverage, when costs become lower.

“It may well be in your best interests to pay cash instead of paying with your health insurance. By paying for the lower cost generics, you avoid falling into the donut hole and that ultimately saves you a lot. At Wilson Pharmacy, we offer a 180-day plan that asks the customer to pay strictly cash and that payment does not go towards the donut hole. It’s between my customers and me,” Jeff Wilson says. “With generics, which cost us less, we can pass the savings on to the customer. There may be a drug that costs $5 for the generic and $100 for the name brand – and both are made by a single company.”

Wilson’s Pharmacy provides first-class, professional customer services, including free same day mailing of medications. The system is simple: your doctor sends the prescriptions to the Pharmacy electronically, and all you have to do is pay by phone.

If it all sounds too good to be true, it is in fact simply excellent business and high quality healthcare, which have been the signature values of Wilson’s Pharmacy for 80 years. Wilson’s is located in Lawrenceville and was opened in 1940 by Jeff Wilson’s grandfather, Harry Wilson. Although it began as a neighborhood pharmacy and is a Lawrenceville institution, Wilson’s now serves an enormous “neighborhood” throughout the Pittsburgh region.

A third generation pharmacist and a graduate of Duquesne University, Wilson is deeply committed to meeting the needs of his customers. “We care about the people we serve. My customers think of me as “my pharmacist” – it’s a relationship. They know my name and I know theirs. The pharmacist is the most easily accessible of all the healthcare professionals – we’re right here, available to answer questions and give guidance. We are the true front line of healthcare.”

Wilson’s Pharmacy is committed to the community. In the past, Wilson and his staff have provided flu shots to seniors at health fairs, but due to COVID-19, they had to find a new way to meet that need. Instead of health fairs, they will go to senior high rises and visit, with essential precautions, the individual apartments to see anyone who wants a flu shot. “This is what patient centered means; service is what we know and what we provide,” Jeff Wilson says. “Let us help you save money on your prescription medications. Generic alternatives are often available and result in surprising savings. We provide a free service called Prescription Drug Cost Analysis, in which we review your list of medications and develop a plan for reducing your costs.”

Prescription Drug Analysis is available on the website at www.wilsonspharmacy.org or you can call (412) 621-6471or stop in.

Western Pennsylvania Guide to Good Health. All rights reserved.