Many Americans depend heavily on online pharmacies to meet their healthcare needs. This makes sense. As many voices have noted over the years, drug prices are out of control. People cannot afford to treat their illnesses through the use of traditional pharmacies. Unfortunately, the vast majority of online stores are illegal. They are not licensed to dispense medicine. Even worse, many of them sell counterfeit pills. However, the government keeps failing in its efforts to discourage people from making online medical purchases because internet drugstores are so cheap.

Online pharmacy promo codes are partly to blame. They are so widely available today. They are designed by online platforms to tempt hesitant patients into ignoring their better judgment to make medical purchases from the internet that might ultimately harm them.

Because online pharmacies exist in such large numbers, these discount codes and coupons are difficult to ignore. Not only are they widespread but their ability to drastically reduce the cost of medicine has allowed the online pharmaceutical arena to grow considerably despite all the dangers it poses.

However, you have no way of convincing the average customer that these codes, and online pharmacies, are a threat. They rely on these platforms to meet their medical needs because they have no choice. They cannot afford to procure drugs through conventional means. Online scams know this and they have continued to use the allure of pharmaceutical discounts to entrap patients.

 

Are Online Pharmacy Promo Codes Good or Bad?

There is no clear ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer to this question. There are several considerations that you have to make to determine whether promo codes will help or hurt you. For instance:

❶ Brand Name VS Generic

The primary objective of pharmaceutical coupons is to help patients save money on their drug purchases. Generic drugs are popular for the same reason. They possess the same active ingredients as their brand name counterparts even though they only cost a fraction of what you would normally spend to secure a brand name product.

While generic drugs definitely play an important role, especially among the poor, most people agree that they are the last resort, an alternative that people use when they cannot afford brand name medicine. It has also been argued that brand name drugs are the far superior option.

This is where discount coupons shine in most cases. The right promo code can make a brand name drug much cheaper than its generic alternative. And if you have the option of buying an inexpensive generic pill or an even cheaper brand name pill, you should always take the brand name option. In such cases, coupons and promotions are definitely a blessing.

❷ Quality of Treatment

Yes, coupons are going to make brand name medicine so much cheaper in some cases. However, you also run the risk of settling for less effective treatments. Some promotions are designed to make expensive medicine cheap.

Unfortunately, a disturbing number of medical coupons on the internet only subsidize access to low-quality treatments. Many people prioritize substandard medical products simply because that is the medicine their coupon allows them to access at a discounted price.

Desperate patients are always looking for ways to save money. Illegal platforms take advantage of that desperation by steering them towards treatments that will not benefit them.

❸ Consistency

The problem with coupons is that they are a temporary solution. Their ability to subsidize the cost of brand name drugs is a double-edged sword. If you start treating your illness with an expensive drug through the use of coupons, sooner or later, you are going to run out of coupons. This will leave you stranded with treatment options you cannot afford.

❹ Generic Option

Sometimes, a coupon tricks you into buying expensive brand name drugs without realizing that the generic version is actually cheaper. People are so quick to conclude that any purchase made with a discount coupon or promo code is the more cost-effective option.

❺ Scams

As was mentioned above, discount codes are a trap that scams use to defraud customers. The most dangerous platforms are often surrounded by the most attractive discounts.

 

How Can You Benefit from Promo Codes?

As was mentioned above, discount codes are not necessarily a bad thing. The key is to ensure that they are helping you rather than hurting you. One way of benefiting from promo codes is to procure them from reputable sources.

Apps like ‘GoodRX’ offer discounts and promotions that you can trust. You can rely on the likes of ‘WERx’ to identify all the most lucrative pharmaceutical rewards programs. If you know any medical professionals, you can also ask them for recommendations.

Though, the most important consideration is to make sure that the codes you have acquired are associated with pharmacies you can trust. There is little point in scoring attractive discounts from a medical store whose products will ultimately poison you. You have to vet the platforms you use carefully, keeping an eye out for the following:

❋ Prescription

Trustworthy stores ask for prescriptions before they dispense prescription drugs. Any website that doesn’t care about prescriptions is fraudulent.

❋ License

You should only transact with online firms that have the necessary licensing or accreditation. Licensed online pharmacies are accountable to federal organizations that will keep them in line.

❋ Contact Information

All legitimate stores have verifiable business addresses and contact information. You can either visit their offices in person or reach them through one of several avenues. Illegal medical entities, on the other hand, are always quick to hide this information.

❋ Medicine

Illicit websites have no way of proving that their merchandise is genuine. Legal drugstores, on the other hand, are more than happy to present documentation proving the authenticity of their products.

As you can see, identifying trustworthy online dispensaries isn’t easy. But this is the only way to prevent tempting coupons from dragging you into fraudulent transactions.

 

Conclusion

Online medical promotions and discounts are not going away. And the fact that nefarious parties are using them to deceive unsuspecting patients isn’t new. People will continue using them despite the danger because they have no choice.

The only thing government agencies can do right now is to educate poor patients, to show them how to identify the online pharmacies they can trust. This will not deter scammers but it will reduce the number of people that keep falling prey to their schemes.