Top prescription drugs with cost comparison resource

In Arizona and California, the top three prescriptions are Ibuprofen, Amoxicillin, and Lisinopril, according to the American Hospital Directory. With GoodRx, a digital platform accessible on a computer or smartphone, you can find the most cost-efficient prescription in your region.

This year there have been 87,251 prescriptions for Ibuprofen in Arizona. In California, there has been 620,168.

“I know people can go out and buy Ibuprofen over the counter but if we write a prescription for a higher amount a lot of patients can put this on their insurance. Plus I think there are some therapeutic benefits to handling a patient a prescription,” said Christian Tomaszewski, Chief Medical Officer for El Centro Regional Medical Center (ECRMC).

In the Yuma area, the average cash cost is around $30 but with Goodrx, the cost is roughly $16. It is the same in El Centro.

Seeing an over the year increase in both states is amoxicillin, a form of antibiotic.

“Amoxicillin is the next generation of Penicillin, it’s got a little bit better coverage,” said Christian Tomaszewski, Chief Medical Officer for ECRMC. “The problem I see with this being the number two prescription is, are we prescribing too many antibiotics?”

That is because many physicians are prescribing the drug for flu and colds when antibiotics are not supposed to be used for those viruses, Tomaszewski said.

Arizona saw 74,178 prescriptions over the last year. In California, it totaled 388,391. The cash cost in Yuma for Amoxicillin is seven dollars more than what you find using GoodRx, similar in El Centro.

The third prescription throughout the region is Lisinopril, a drug commonly associated with high blood pressure. In Arizona, there have been more than 72,000 prescriptions this year and in California, there was nearly 300,000.

You can search your prescriptions here.