User Saving's Story

By JoAnne Geiger

I've been a teacher for most of my life, but what I really like to do is work in church ministry. I get people out of the church and into the community, serving and getting to know the needs and networking. I’m waiting for a job in that area, so for the past couple years, I've been teaching at private schools. Private schools are expensive, and sometimes their enrollment goes down, so they lay people off. Since 2017, I've been in and out of a lot of part-time jobs, and I've lost health insurance on and off over that time. I have to take regular medication, and I can't afford it. 

The one brand-name prescription I have to take is Synthroid, for thyroid disease. I’ve been taking it since I was 17. I take a generic for my high-blood pressure and that isn’t a problem, but I tried the generic for Synthroid, and it doesn’t help, so that was a big concern. Even with some of the insurances I’ve had over the years, because it’s brand name, I still had to have a copay. 

One day a few years ago I was at my church waiting in the pastor’s office for a meeting, and I saw a stack of the FamilyWize cards on his desk. I’d heard of prescription discount cards like FamilyWize before, so I figured I’d try it. I would actually take a couple of the prescription discount cards out there to the pharmacy, and I would say to the pharmacist, “I don't really know which one is the better deal,” and they would look through the pile and pick one and it would be FamilyWize—a couple of times they picked that one first. 

As far as the Synthroid goes, it really cuts the price down. With insurance sometimes I was paying $70, and with the FamilyWize card $35, so probably about 50% of what I would pay. Today I have to go pick up a prescription waiting for me, and I’ll be using the FamilyWize card again because I get my medicine at a lower rate. 

I’ve recommended the card to a few people over the past couple of years I’ve been using it. When you don't have insurance, and money is tight, this is a great resource!