Looking for places to get bulk OTC medicine in the US
I have a prescription for a certain digestion aide which I need to take on a daily basis. A while back, I got a letter from my insurance that they will no longer be covering it and offering it through the pharmacy counter because it's an over-the-counter medication.
The problem is that almost nobody sells this drug in large quantities. I used to get a 3-month supply, 100 pills, for something less than $10. Now the best price I can seem to find is $12 for a 42-pack, and annoyingly they only ever come in incredibly irritating blister packs (a pox on the people who invented putting pills in those things!), or an equally unhinged option of being spread between three separate bottles and boxed together.
I did happen to find a place that sold the drug in bulk, but I've never heard of them and their website doesn't exactly inspire trust.
Does anyone know of a place where I might be able to find the drugs I need in quantities and packaging that makes sense, within the United States?
The best place for bulk anything is Costco. If Costco has it at your old price, you will more than pay for a membership each year with the savings for that alone. Even if it is twice the price compared to your old price, it would still pay for a membership. I buy my antihistamine generics there because it is so much cheaper than anywhere I have ever found.
You could also try asking at your pharmacy what the out of pocket cost actually is. You can still get a prescription from your doctor and fill it without your insurance being involved at all. It is likely cheaper than the otc packaged ones.
You can also combine these two tips. Costco pharmacy is actually quite a good pharmacy. In CA (not sure about other states) you don’t even have to be a member to use the pharmacy for prescriptions, but you get a discount with a membership.
Edit: and yes, I agree about blister packs. Here in France, everything seems to come in a blister pack exclusively. That is one thing I definitely will not miss when I return to the US.
Costco also only sells them in 48 packs. My pharmacy is Kaiser, and I think they've stopped buying the medication in bulk as well. I might try talking to the pharmacists at both Kaiser and Costco, though, so thanks for the tip.
Kaiser makes it tough because they integrate the pharmacy in with the patient care. In general cases it works well, but it makes anything unique (which is common in the medical world) very frustrating. I need to buy insurance soon, and I will be avoiding Kaiser like the plague. I am sorry you have to deal with that.
With that info, I’m not sure if Kaiser doctors are allowed to send prescriptions to outside pharmacies without an explicit reason they can’t use the Kaiser pharmacy. I would try asking your doctor for a written prescription and take that to some nearby pharmacies.
I used to think my grandmother was crazy because she said that Kaiser was a blessing in her life. But after experiencing care outside of their network, I agree with her now. Kaiser might have stupid BS, but the BS is a lot more serious and harder to combat with every other healthcare / insurance combination out there.
Beyond that, in my area Kaiser is basically the omnipresent patient care giant that vastly overshadows every other organization.
Though I will admit the quality of care seems to have been slipping recently. I'm about to switch PCPs right now because I'm not happy with the care I'm getting from him, but I kind of doubt that any other doctor will be better because it seems like all of their doctors are getting squeezed right now.
I used to agree with your grandmother about Kaiser, though because of them, a few serious illnesses I've developed (why are chronic illnesses buy 1, get 2 free?) were ignored/missed due to outdated medical information that have caused them to progress.
It's a good model, now if it were global and all-inclusive for everyone and doctors weren't at the whim of an insurance company on whether or not to cover things.
Just following up on my findings; I asked the Costco pharmacist what the price would be without insurance for 100 pills and they told me $15 and change, sold as capsules in a bottle, compared to the 48 pill blister packs for $10. I’m waiting for my doctor to renew my prescription to get a price quote to still have it fulfilled through Kaiser but it seems like I might get it transferred to Costco. The only downside is that I’ll have to get it from Costco. 😸
Nice! If Kaiser can do it directly, that would for sure be nice, especially if you have other prescriptions to pick up from them. But at least Costco will work as a fallback.
If you're still able to get a prescription for it, look it up on costplusdrugs. It looks like they do carry at least some things that are also available OTC. As an example, I punched in Claritin (Loratadine), and they sell 90-count 10mg tablets for $7.06. Keep in mind you do have to pay a fee for shipping, but depending on the number/quantity of things you're ordering, it may still be worth it.
I would also follow the other suggestion and shop around a bit. GoodRx should show you the cash price (or price with their "coupon") at most of the pharmacies near you.
I do recommend only buying from a trusted source. I buy a generic multivitamin and other supplements from Walmart, because they have a great system for communicating recalls, and a big box store has more to lose if they distribute an unsafe product nationwide.
I tried GoodRX. Their website gave me a bunch of prices with absolutely zero context, not even how many pills were included, so they seemed pretty useless for my use case, unfortunately. I honestly don't know how they expect to do business if they are so opaque. Maybe I just missed it?
I did look up Cost Plus though, and it's got me through a bit of a loop because it's making it seem that the OTC version is not actually the exact same medicine as I was taking. I'm going to talk to my pharmacist before I do anything else just in case.
Hmm, so when I look at GoodRx on desktop or mobile, next to the prescription name there's a pencil to edit it. That lets you change form, dosage, and quantity. You can even put in a custom quantity if that matches how your doctor puts your prescription in.
Cost plus doesn't stock everything, so if it doesn't show up there, that doesn't mean you can't possibly be taking another form or dosage.
But yes, please confirm what you are taking. Especially if you are looking to buy something OTC that would not go through your doctor and a pharmacist first.
Seconding shroudedscribe's goodrx suggestion. I found it massively helpful recently when I had to get human meds for my old cats. (as she said, click on the pencil to edit). On top of often having a discount, it will list the cost of that med at multiple places in your area (if you put in your zip code) which can save you a lot of time and money.
If it's Prilosec (what you describe sounds a lot like Prilosec/omeprazole), Costco only sells in the 42 count blister packs. Amazon sells them in bottles, but again in 42-counts, but in 3 bottles of 14-day supplies. It's unhelpful to take this medication as prescribed when insurance won't cover it, but the OTC dosage is not the same as prescription. I'm sorry you have to deal with that.
I'm based in Canada, so this might not work the same way elsewhere. Some medications are available in both prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) forms. For my health insurance plan, if my doctor prescribes a dosage higher than what’s sold OTC, my medication is still covered under my private health insurance plan.
The challenge comes when drug companies release an OTC version that's identical in strength to my prescribed dose. Fortunately, my doctor has found a workaround for situations like that. For example, if I need a medication at 25 mg and there's an OTC version also at 25 mg, my doctor will update the prescription to 50 mg, instructing me to take one tablet every two days. I then split the tablet and take 25 mg each day, as originally intended.
A caveat: this only works if the pharmacist confirms that splitting the tablet won’t affect its effectiveness. Some medications are coated or formulated in a way that requires them to be taken whole, so it's crucial to check with the doc and pharmacist first.
Would you feel comfortable disclosing the drug? I can try and take a look for that drug specifically.
I'll message you privately. I just don't want it public, even if I am just using a handle.
Does it have to be bulk?
Have you tried costplusdrugs.com ( Billionaire Mark Cuban's discount online pharmaceutical)?
Given I take a minimum of one a day small quantities are very inconvenient, especially if they are all individually packaged.
Cost plus would take the prescription from your doctor, like you have been doing. Then, you fill the prescription at their (typically affordable) cash price.
For example: 90 days of Ompeprazole for $8 + shipping
https://www.costplusdrugs.com/medications/omeprazoledelayedreleasedr-20mg-capsule/
Just a thought: if you’re fighting heartburn then sodium bicarbonate is dirt cheap and works very well: drop a certain amount in a glass of water, drink it, and done. Also works with lemon juice (strangely, acidic lemon juice turns basic when mixed with stomach acid, don’t ask me how it works) but I find sodium bicarbonate to work faster and is easier to carry around.
I’m sure the doctor would have prescribed it if it would have worked. I actually take two different medicines on a scheduled basis for this problem.
Doctors don’t consider it a medicine so they don’t prescribe it. I was always prescribed PPIs which I didn’t want to keep taking permanently to manage the condition so I switched to baking soda. 1kg lasts me over a year and that’s also using it for baking. It basically combines with your stomach acid to make CO2 instead and lower the acidity.
Anyway, you do you, just sharing what worked for me.