FAQs
General
- AARP is the nation’s largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older to choose how they live as they age.
- Optum Rx is the Pharmacy Benefit Manager that administers the prescription discounts program. Optum Rx works with drug companies to lower prices, and then pass the savings on to you. Optum Rx also processes all pharmacy claims and operates a home delivery pharmacy.
Prescription medication coverage can change each year. AARP Prescription Discounts provided by Optum Rx allows users to find affordable options when it comes to filling their medications. It's not insurance, but it helps you get discounts on prescriptions, and could save you more than your current coverage.
How to use your Rx card
- Show your digital Rx card to your pharmacist.
- Ask your pharmacist to check the cost of your prescription, and if you have insurance, you can see which one saves you more. If you don’t have insurance, there's no need to compare options.
- After you’ve compared your options, you can decide whether to pay for your prescription with your insurance OR your digital Rx card. It’s up to you!
This free discount card can help you get discounts on FDA-approved medication nationwide. It’s as easy as searching for your medication, finding the nearest pharmacy location with the best price, and going to pick up your prescription. There is no membership, no fee, and no personal information needed to get started.
- Yes, the AARP Prescription Discount card is free for everyone, and AARP members save even more. AARP members can share their deeper discounts with their spouse and children.
- There is a card available for AARP members and those who are not AARP members. Get your card and use it right away. You can use the program even if you’re not an AARP member, but if you want to take advantage of deeper discounts and additional benefits, sign up for a membership here.
- Prescription discount programs are administered by a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), which develop select pharmacy networks and negotiate with drug companies for the best medication prices. PBMs process pharmacy claims and sometimes operate home delivery pharmacies. By negotiating lower drug costs with drug companies and pharmacies, Optum Rx is able to deliver low costs and savings for those who do not have insurance or cannot afford their prescriptions with their insurance.
- Search for a drug to estimate the cost of your prescription using the Rx discount card, or log in to your account and find your prescription price by searching your drug. Prices subject to change. Site pricing does not reflect all available drugs or drug discounts. To get the most accurate prices for your prescriptions, please visit your pharmacy.
- You can save on all FDA-approved medications, brand name and generic.
Home delivery (AARP member benefit only)
- Call Optum Rx at 1-877-422-7718 to get started.
- You can call Optum Rx at 1-877-422-7718 anytime.
Getting your card
There are many easy ways to get your card:
Go to Get your Rx card and choose to either print, download, send a card to your mobile wallet, text or email yourself a card.
- If you have not received a text message from Optum Rx within 10 minutes, please complete the form again. If you have repeated the process and still have not received a text message with your AARP Prescription Discount Card information enclosed, please call Optum Rx at 1-877-422-7718 for further assistance.
A text message sends your AARP Prescription Discount Card information in a standard text message to your mobile device.
A mobile wallet is a virtual wallet, or mobile phone app, that stores a digital version of your AARP Prescription Discount Card on your mobile phone. Mobile wallets are a convenient way for you to quickly reference your card when at a pharmacy. This option is only available to AARP members.
- Mobile wallets work on most newer smartphones. Please check with your smartphone’s user guidelines to learn more about what mobile wallet apps are available for your phone.
What are the benefits?
Anyone can use this discount card, regardless of whether they have insurance or not. The Rx discount card is not insurance, and cannot be used with your insurance – but it could save you more.
To compare your options and see which price is better, ask your pharmacist: “Can you please check to see if the AARP Prescription Discount card price would be different from my health insurance plan’s price?”
- No—the AARP Prescription Discount card is not insurance. When using the AARP Prescription Discount card instead of your insurance, the amount you pay will not be applied toward your deductible. But, it could save you more than what you would have paid with insurance.
Here’s how to save:
At the pharmacy, ask your pharmacist how much your medication will cost through your insurance. (If you don’t have insurance or just want to see the price of the discount card without comparing, skip this step!)
Ask the pharmacist to run your AARP Prescription Discount card and use the one that gives you the better price.
- Yes! But, you do need a prescription to receive the discount. Your doctor can write a prescription for your over-the-counter medication. Call your doctor’s office and have them call or fax in the prescription to your pharmacy, and you can use your discount card at the pharmacy when you check out. If you call to refill your medications and have them delivered, you can also ask your pharmacy to apply the discount card to your prescription over the phone.
- If your pharmacy is unable or unwilling to process your discount, please have the pharmacist call 1-877-422-7718.
Yes. However, the AARP Prescription Discount Card cannot be used in conjunction with your Medicare Part D coverage. You can only use one over the other. Show your primary insurance card and your prescription discounts card to see which saves you more.
If you use a discount card on your prescriptions, the price will not count toward your Medicare Part D out-of-pocket costs, and therefore do not allow you to exceed your deductible and get out of the coverage gap. But, it could save you more than the retail or out-of-pocket price for your prescription.
- There are more than 66,000 participating pharmacies nationwide, including Walgreens, CVS, Kroger, and more. Or, you can enroll in home delivery.
- The AARP Prescription Discount card does not expire and you can reuse it on prescriptions as often as you’d like. You don’t need a new card for each prescription.
Website
- Make sure you are entering the exact ZIP code of your pharmacy on the Find a Drug Price page. If you can’t find your pharmacy, call Optum Rx at 1-877-422-7718 to confirm.
- If this happens, please call Optum Rx at 1-877-422-7718. Site pricing does not reflect all available drugs or drug discounts. To get the most accurate prices for your prescriptions, please visit your pharmacy.
Not finding what you're looking for?
Call Optum Rx at 1-877-422-7718.