The editors of Agingcare.com couldn't agree more with Annalise. Although one drug may cost less at pharmacy A, and another drug costs less at pharmacy B, we did not mean to imply that you should use different pharmacies. Rather, the point was to compare the TOTAL cost for your monthly medications, then consider going to the pharmacy for offers the overall best price. But, use that same pharmacist for all your prescriptions.

It is very important to deal with one pharmacist only, to avoid potential dangerous effects of mixing medications.

To suggest that people can save money by shopping around is certainly legitimate. However I challenge the prospect of having people use different pharmacies for different medications to save a few bucks. Using one pharmacist is very important when people are taking multiple medications. Only your trusted pharmacist, one who actually talks to you, can recognize potential dangers of mixing medications. This is especially true when multiple medical practitioners are prescribing for an individual. A pharmacist who is filling all of your medications can easily recognize hazardous mixing of potential harmful combinations of drugs, contraindications, and even duplications. Not to mention having the opportunity to suggest discontinuation of a drug that may be prescribed for a disease state being treated by another med prescribed by someone else, ultimately saving you money! The value of trusting in one pharmacist to oversee all of your medications far outwieghs that of traipsing around town all month searching out a bargain.

My husband has made a habit of going to the local pharmacy because the pharmacist is his "buddy". No doubt this has cost us tremendously. But I do not think we are alone in this situation. Local pharmacists can make it easy to do business -- they provide advice, counsel and a more personal face on a difficult medical situation. This article caused us to examine his meds and explore our options. We will be making treks to various chains in the future to get some substantial savings.