Buy Prescriptions

It is not unusual for students with disabilities to be on prescription medications. Sometimes insurance pays the entire cost of their meds, but often young people must learn to shop around to get the best price they can on prescriptions. Shopping for generic drugs can be a good way for students to save money. This lesson helps students see the kind of savings they can get by shopping generic and comparing pharmacy prices.

How to Begin the Lesson

1. Set the stage. While students may or may not need prescription medication today, chances are they will need them sometime in their lives. Therefore, it is good to know how to get the best price possible and save money—sometimes a lot.

2. Explore prices. Using GoodRX, have students cost compare the prices of selected medications online. They will find the cheapest price and decide if that is a brand name or generic drug and what pharmacy has the most competitive price.

3. Choose another drug. Students can then select a fifth medication if they choose and cost compare that.

4. Analysis. Ask the students why they think brand names are so much higher. See who has seen a Lipitor commercial. Talk about the costs of research and development of new drugs. Have students suggest other ways to save on medical expenses.

Expand the Lesson

Extend the learning by introducing the Transition in Ten lesson Renewing a Prescription. Or, follow-up with a complete unit on Staying Healthy to work on the independent living skills of taking care of themselves as adults. And, while the lessons in this blog can stand alone, they work best when paired with the Financial Literacy course from Susan Traugh’s Transition 2 Life curriculum. This one-semester course is offered in both a special education edition and a companion text for general education students. Find it here.