Amazon Pharmacy RxPass: A guide to the Prime health program offering affordable generic medications monthly
Amazon
- Amazon RxPass lets Prime members access generic medications for just $5 a month.
- Anyone can browse Amazon Pharmacy for free, but they'll need to pay for medications purchased.
- Amazon Pharmacy's PillPack service helps consumers manage multiple medications.
The average American spends just under $1,000 annually on prescription medication, according to data cited by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. That's compared to $590 in Canada, $381 in Belgium, and $273 in the UK. Long story short, Americans spend a lot of money on medicine every year.
Amazon is trying to get a cut of this business with their Amazon Pharmacy RxPass offering.
According to Amazon, RxPass is "a Prime membership benefit from Amazon Pharmacy that provides patients with affordable access to generic medications that treat more than 80 common health conditions for just $5 a month."
What are the costs and fees for Amazon Pharmacy and RxPass?
Anyone, Prime member or not, can browse Amazon Pharmacy for free, but you must pay for the medications you purchase. For Amazon Prime members, one way to do this is through the subscription service RxPass, which delivers all your generic medications monthly for $5/month.
If you're a Prime member without RxPass, you can make a one-off purchase on Amazon Pharmacy. Expect to pay Amazon's listed price for medications — and get Prime's customary free two-day shipping (in many regions, anyway).
Non-Prime members can also use Amazon Pharmacy. After paying the listed price, users can get free shipping in a four- or five-day window or in two days for an additional $5.99 tacked onto the order.
With the RxPass subscription service added to your Prime membership, you can get all your generic prescriptions for $5 a month, assuming the prescriptions are part of the 80-plus that Amazon offers on the platform.
If your insurance plan does not cover a significant portion of your prescription medicine costs or if you do not have medical insurance but take medication regularly, then Amazon's RxPass is quite likely a good deal for you. At $5 a month, it costs just $60 annually, and for that price, you can get multiple generic medications shipped to you as needed each month.
At last check, there are some limits as to who can use RxPass. It's not currently offered to people in CA, MN, NH, TX, or WA, but people in these states can still use Amazon Pharmacy. RxPass can't be used with Medicaid or Medicare.
Are Amazon Pharmacy and PillPack the same?
PillPack is a service offered by Amazon Pharmacy that is available to Amazon Pharmacy users at no extra charge.
"PillPack helps you manage multiple medications, sorting them into individual packets and delivering them to your door," according to Amazon.
Regular Amazon Pharmacy deliveries come in bottles rather than PillPack's pre-sorted packs.
So if you take a variety of drugs, PillPack can be a great service, as the individual packets bundle medicines you need to take on the same schedule together. They even list the days and times to take them right on the packaging.