Saving Money on Prescription Drugs - Little Known Tricks

One of the most positive results of being a news and information junkie is that I am constantly learning, especially about issues related to personal finance and economics. Monday, I was watching a segment from ABC’s “Good Morning America,” which spotlighted a family struggling with paying health care costs—particularly the cost of prescription drugs—in light of their unique circumstances. Although their circumstances are unique, the Florida family spotlighted in the piece represent the nearly 50% of Americans who need some form of prescription drugs (according to figures of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
However, the family in the news segment was lucky in one respect; ABC brought in a noted health care advocate and author, Michelle Katz, to help show them ways in which they might trim down the cost of prescription drugs. Watching the piece, I was slightly taken aback by some of the little-known ways which you and I as consumers can advocate on our own behalves in saving money on prescription drugs (see video below).

There are many websites dedicated to informing the public about ways to cut costs related to health care for the consumer. As an example, start here: www.facebook.com/healthcareforless. Other places to begin searching online for ways to lower costs is to check out sites which focus on particular afflictions, such as Multiple Sclerosis or other blogs. In addition,the tips offered by Katz include:

1. Check your bill, like you would at a restaurant. 

Believe it or not, there are codes for your drugs, and billing departments often get them wrong. In helping the family, Katz found one of those wrong codes on their bill. The family was being charged for a higher priced drug. Fixing the code immediately saved them $1,200. 

2. Arm yourself with the Low RX App. 

Drug prices fluctuate like gas prices. This app tells you what the average cost is for a particular drug and its generic, and arms you with the phone numbers of every pharmacy in your area. You can call other pharmacies to comparison shop. The app also shows discounts. In some cases, you can get up to 75% off.

3. Go to big wholesalers, even if you’re not a member. 

The Low RX app revealed lower drug prices at Costco, which as it turned out, by law you can buy your prescription drugs there...even if you weren’t a member. Katz found the family's drugs at Costco for $100 less than elsewhere. 

4. Negotiate. 

If you go to smaller mom-and-pop pharmacies, you can wheel and deal to bring the price down. Bringing cash can increase your bargaining power. Instead of paying $30 for a prescription at a local pharmacy, the Florida family secured the same prescription for $12 – an $18 savings. 

5. You can go directly to the big drug companies. 

Katz called and emailed large drug companies on behalf of the Florida family. She kept at it for weeks, providing proof of the family’s financial situation and even suggested that the family might have to stop buying its particular drug altogether. 

6. Visit Needymeds.com. 

Needymeds is a nonprofit group that offers grants, vouchers and patient assistance through its website. 

7. Use an RX Access discount card. 

Together Rx Access offers savings on brand-name and generic prescription products to individuals and families without prescription drug coverage, according to its website. With the help of Michelle Katz, the Florida family in the ABC News segment lowered their monthly prescription drug bill from $20,000.19 to $1,252.28, saving them $18,747.91. 

If you're one of the nearly 50% of Americans who find themselves in need of prescription drugs, these tips should be a great starting point to lower drug costs.  I've already uploaded the Low RX App to my tablet, and it works like a charm.  And I hope to check out the other sites myself when (or if) I ever need them.
Learning is a good thing!

Consumer Advisory: "Fixing" Credit Report Mistakes

A couple of months ago, I posted a piece about how credit companies oftentimes make it hard for consumers to obtain a federally-mandated free copy of their credit reports (see: "When A "Free" Credit Report Isn't Free!").  Well stop the presses; now the three major credit-reporting agencies--Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax--have apparently made it just as difficult for consumers to clear up mistakes on their credit reports.
This is important because, according recent reports, "Americans are being denied loans or getting stuck with higher interest rates due to errors on their reports" (see: "Millions of Credit Reports Have Errors.").  Although the exact figures are in dispute, it's estimated that approximately 40 million Americans relying on credit reports containing errors that impact them negatively.
Two weeks ago Sunday, CBS's Sixty Minutes news magazine aired a piece highlighting how difficult--if not impossible--it is for American consumers to attempt to rectify mistakes on their credit reports.  For those of you who missed this important segment, I've taken the liberty of posting it below. Please watch:

"The ONE Thing To Know About Your Credit Report," courtesy of 60 Minutes, originally airing February 10, 2013

It's important to diligently monitor your credit reports for updates and/or mistakes.  In the event that you should encounter such difficulties in trying to correct mistakes, I advise you to contact your state's Attorney General office to report these problems.

Using Your Smartphone To Find Smart Travel Deals

With my former truck driving days behind me, I don't get to travel anywhere near as much as I once did. And it's too bad that I don't because a recent feature on NBC's The Today Show spotlighted new apps for our smart phones that makes me want to get back into travelling...just for the sake of trying them out.
According to Travel and Leisure Magazine International Editor Mark Orwoll, with more and more Americans looking to save money--especially on discretionary expenditures like travel--the traditional bargain-based websites like Trevelocity and Expedia can't always meet our growing demands in regards to urge to cut costs. As a result, more smart phone apps have sprung up to help us engage in smarter comparison shopping for the best hotel and travel packages. The best thing about these apps/sites is that the information they provide tends to be the most up-to-the-hour information on hotel and hotel package offerings.  Among these apps and websites are:

BackBid - Combines the bidding process of ebay with hotel's competing for your business. How it works is that would-be travelers first create a free account at Backbid.com, then a book reservations at a hotel through your favorite website.  The customer must then forward the email with your confirmed hotel reservation to the site, and it will shoot your reservation details — minus your credit card information — to dozens of hotels at your destination. BackBid then shares with you any counter-offers rival hotels may make, such as a comparable room at a lower rate.

HotelSweep - A service site focusing on travelers who prefer staying at independently-owned properties. HotelSweep.com lists more than 50,000 known U.S. hotels, motels, and Bed & Breakfasts. One of the perks of the site is that it lists mom-and-pop properties — places that generally aim to attract budget-conscious travelers, but are too small to afford the costs of being listed with multinational travel agencies. Users inpute their destination information into the site's "direct hotel search" tool, and it will produce a list of properties, which you can sort by nightly rate or distance from a particular location.

DealBase - An online source of objective information regarding advertised hotels, hotel packages, and prices.  What DealBase.com does is that it sifts through each package for its true value. What you would do is log onto the site, and input your the hotel package information at your destination, then click on the listing for a breakdown of the estimated costs of the package's components. (The site even publishes a list of the "worst" hotel deals.).

Room Key - For those wanting the most practical, most simple lodging information.  Room Key.com limits its selection to the more well-known hotel and motel chains, eliminating most of the uncertainty about untried and relative known lodgings.  They focuses on seven hotel chains: Best Western, Choice Hotels (Comfort Inn, Quality Inn), Hilton, Hyatt, InterContinental (Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo), Marriott and Wyndham (Howard Johnson, Ramada, Days Inn, Super 8), listing them in its search engine and displaying most of the pertinent information related to the amenities each particular facility offers.  And speaking of amenities...

Room 77 - For travelers whose priority is a room with the most amenities. Room 77.com offers a search engine which researches room-by-room amenities and floor plans for hundreds of 3- to 5-star hotels in about 30 North American, European and Asian cities. Searchers can find, for instance, what window view a particular room offers, as well as detailed information on any suites within the hotel. It also offers the ability for the searcher to book a particular type of room.  Travelers who book through this site have the advantage of using the site's free "room concierge" feature, in which it contacts hotel managers on a guest's behalf to request a room matching his or her preferences.

These are just a few of the most recent apps and websites dedicated to helping the consumer take better control of their vacation and lodging-related spending, without a minimal amount of additional strain to their budgets.  For other travel sites, watch the embedded video spotlighting these and other apps.  Or, as I always stress, perform your own due diligence when it comes to looking for the best offers--shop around!

IRS Opens Tax Refund Inquiry Resources

A few weeks ago, I posted the projected Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax refund schedule ("IRS Delays The Start Of Tax Season") for the millions of electronic tax filers (e-filers) due to the late start of the income tax season this year (and yes, April 15th is still the due date).  Well, for the rest of us who are not in such a hurry to (pay others to) prepare and receive our tax refunds, the IRS has officially begun to make available it's Tax Refund Status inquiry center.
Filer can now log onto the IRS "Get Refund Status" website, and retrieve information on when they can expect to receive their tax refunds.  However, in order to retrieve this information, you will need to remember your filing status, your social security number, and the exact amount you expect to be receiving.
Additionally, the IRS cautions that there are guidelines filers should follow in making these inquiries:

• Refund information for the most current tax year that you filed will generally be available 72 hours after we acknowledge receipt of your e-filed return, or three to four weeks after you mail your paper return
• Get Refund Status does not track refunds that are claimed on amended tax returns. Amended/corrected returns may take 8 to 12 weeks, or longer, to process.
• If it's been more than 8 weeks since you filed your amended return and you haven't received your refund, please contact a customer service representative by calling 800-829-1040. From outside the U.S., call 267-941-1000. TTY/TDD: 800-829-4059

Get Refund Status is available almost all of the time. However, our system is not available every Monday, early, from 12:00 am (Midnight) to 3:00 am Eastern Time.  The IRS's Change of Address and Refund Trace features are not available during the following times (Eastern Time):

Sunday           12:00 am (Midnight) to 7:00 pm
Monday          12:00 am (Midnight) to 6:00 am
Tuesday          3:30 am to 6:00 am
Wednesday     3:30 am to 6:00 am
Thursday         3:30 am to 6:00 am
Friday             3:30 am to 6:00 am
Saturday         3:30 am to 6:00 am and 9:00 pm to Midnight


Finally, the IRS's online and telephone information retrieval systems do not operate on a 24 hours, 7 days a week level of availability.  The window of opportunity to get this information is as follows:


Also, occasionally the system may be unavailable on Sundays between 1:00 am and 7:00 am, Eastern Time.

Product Review: The Seagate FreeAgent Portable Hard Drive

As a writer and blogger of information, sometimes I find myself thrust into the role of informer, based on my personal experiences. Unfortunately, one of my experiences as a writer was rather costly recently of my attempt to exercise good sense, but having to rely on questionable resources. To be a bit more specific, I am speaking of my attempt to back up my files, including valued my manuscripts on external hard drive.
Because I had among other things, valuable writings and manuscripts for many projects I was working on at the time, I thought backing up my files would be a good idea. So, about a year and a half ago, I purchased what I thought was competently-functional external hard drive for my computer. I chose and purchased the Seagate FreeAgent Go 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive. Before doing so, I’d thought that I had performed my due diligence in comparing what I thought would be among the most popular market brands.

                                                   Seagate's FreeAgent Go 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive
However, soon after I bought the FreeAgent—less than a year—the hard drive, along with all of my manuscripts and files crashed for no discernible reason. I never dropped or jostled the hard drive. I never stored it in extreme temperatures of otherwise extreme environments. It stayed in the same computer bas that I had kept my primary laptop, various flash drives, and other computer paraphernalia.
I frantically searched online to see if there was some kind of product recall which would explain this problem; there was none. What I did find however, was that other people who had purchased this device had similar problems. Not everyone, but enough to give me pause in regretting my purchasing decision.
Yes, this storage unit is light, compact, and ready to use. But many of the other online complaints I’d read concerning this device were eerily similar to mine; it either crashed or its performance degraded sharply in under a year in many cases. Although I had no problems initially with using the FreeAgent, it simply is not a reliable enough product for primary or even backup storage due to its short functional lifespan.
And customer service was not very helpful. Upon calling the company to complain and explore my options for saving my files, I quickly found that my options were limited to virtually declaring bankruptcy in paying for Seagate to try to retrieve my data, of buying a new hard drive (you’re correct if you guessed “one of similar or equal value”). And navigating the company’s maze-like website in order to secure assistance is as equally problematic at best.
I have two other hard drives—neither from this company—that work perfectly well. One, having a comparatively limited capacity of only 300 gigabytes has been going for the last 4 years. The other I purchased last year (750 gigs) and has continued to work, despite a bump or two.
While many of the customer reviews I'd read about this product revealed that other purchasers have had no particular issues with this product, I will say that most of those positive reviews tended to be recent postings, many within the past 7-8 months. I can only guess that as those users’ individual experiences with the FreeAgent Go becomes more jaded, their opinions will change more in line with my own. Based on my personal experiences (buttressed by the reviews and reports I have read), I can only caution you against purchasing the Seagate FreeAgent Go external hard drive.