GoodRx's new Companion Family Plan costs $24.99 a month, or $16.99 a month when paid annually, and covers a primary member plus up to four dependents, including children, adults, and pets.
Members get access to 250-plus eligible generic medications for free, hundreds more for under $10, and discounts on dental, vision, lab, and imaging services.
Before signing up, compare what your household actually spends on prescriptions with the roughly $204 annual membership cost.
Getting some prescriptions for free sounds like an easy way to save money. But before adding another subscription to your monthly budget, grab your prescription bottles and a calculator.
GoodRx recently launched its Companion Family Plan, which costs $24.99 a month or $16.99 a month when paid annually. One membership covers the primary account holder plus up to four dependents, which can include kids, adult family members, and even pets.
The plan includes more than 250 eligible generic medications for free and hundreds more for under $10, along with discounts on dental, vision, lab, and imaging services.
That sounds good. But the number that actually matters is how much money your family would save.
Here's how to figure that out before you subscribe.
Start with your medicine cabinet, not the “250 free drugs”
The first thing worth doing is making a list of every prescription your household regularly fills.
Then look each one up through GoodRx Companion using the exact medication, dosage, and quantity you currently buy. All of those details are at your fingertips when using Companion, which makes it easy to price compare.
Next, you’ll then just want to compare the Companion price with what you're paying now.
The annual plan costs $203.88. So, if your family would save $25 a month on prescriptions, that's $300 a year and you've potentially come out ahead before considering any other benefits.
But if Companion only saves your household $10 a month, that's $120 a year in prescription savings for a membership costing about $204.
Pro tip: Don't stop when you see your medication on the free list. Check the dosage and quantity, too. And be sure to revisit the price occasionally as GoodRx says its list of eligible free medications and discounted prices can change.
Compare it with your insurance
Having health insurance doesn't necessarily mean your insurance price is the cheapest price for every prescription.
GoodRx discounts can be used instead of prescription insurance or Medicare when they're cheaper, but they can't be combined with insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid on the same purchase.
So don't simply ask whether Companion makes a prescription cheaper. Instead, compare these three prices: Your insurance copay vs. the regular GoodRx price vs. the Companion price.
Then use the cheapest option available to you.
Don't forget the four-legged friend
This is where the family plan gets interesting.
Your allotment of four additional members can absolutely include your pets. If your dog or cat takes a recurring prescription, be sure to add that medication to your calculations as well.
A household saving only a few dollars on its human prescriptions might discover that adding an expensive recurring pet medication changes the math considerably.
But be aware that pets don't get everything their human owners get. Specifically, GoodRx's terms say pets aren't eligible for telehealth or the plan's discounted non-insurance benefits, such as dental, vision, lab, and imaging services.
Don't count benefits you won't use
It's tempting to add up every benefit in a membership and call all of it “savings.” Don't do that.
A dental discount isn't worth $50 to your family if you never use it. The same goes for vision, lab, and imaging discounts.
Also, the primary Companion member gets access to $19 online care visits, but only for the primary member. So, while the plan covers up to four additional family members, they aren't eligible for discounted telehealth services.
The bottom line: When you're deciding whether the membership pays for itself, be sure to put a dollar value only on those benefits you think you're likely to use.
Run the $204 test
The easiest way to decide may be to forget all the marketing numbers and focus on one: $203.88.
That's what you'll pay for a year of the family plan at the advertised annual rate.
Run your own numbers and try to estimate what your household would save over the next 12 months on prescriptions and the other benefits. Then simply subtract $203.88 from that number.
If the number you get is comfortably positive, the annual membership could make financial sense. If it's close to zero or negative, sticking with insurance, free GoodRx discounts, or another option may leave more money in your pocket.
And don't forget that paying monthly gives you a different equation. At $24.99 per month, keeping the plan for a full year would cost nearly $300.
The word “free” will understandably get most of the attention with a plan offering hundreds of medications for $0 at the pharmacy counter.
But the smarter way to shop a healthcare membership is to ignore how many medications are on the list and count how many are in your medicine cabinet.
If those savings beat the membership fee, you've found a deal. If they don't, 250 free medications you never take are still worth $0 to your family.