Medication cost calculator

A pack price tells you very little on its own. What you usually want to know is what the medication costs you per day, what it adds up to over a year, and whether the bigger pack is actually cheaper.

Cost per unit is the only fair comparison

A larger pack with a higher sticker price is often cheaper per tablet, and sometimes it is not. Dividing price by units is the whole trick, and it is the number to write down when you are deciding between two options at the counter.

The yearly figure is worth computing once even if it is uncomfortable. For a long-term medication, a small difference per dose becomes a real amount over twelve months, and it is the figure that makes it worth asking whether a generic, a different pack size, or a different prescription length is available.

What this deliberately ignores

Insurance, copays, deductibles, subsidy schemes and prescription charges vary by country and by person, and folding a guess at them into the arithmetic would make the answer look more authoritative than it is. Enter what you actually pay at the counter and the number will mean something.

It also cannot tell you whether a cheaper option is clinically equivalent. Generics usually are, but switching brands or formulations is a question for a pharmacist, especially for medications with a narrow therapeutic window.

Cost is an adherence problem too

Doses skipped to stretch a pack are one of the more common reasons a medication “stops working”, and they do not look any different in a record from doses forgotten. If cost is the reason, that is worth saying out loud at the next appointment — there is often a cheaper equivalent, and nobody can offer it if they do not know. The adherence rate calculator gives you the other half of that conversation.

Common questions

How do I work out the cost per dose of my medication?

Divide the pack price by the number of units in the pack to get the cost per unit, then multiply by the units in one dose. A pack of 28 at 24 is 0.857 per tablet, so a two-tablet dose costs 1.71.

Is the bigger pack always cheaper?

No. Compare cost per unit rather than the sticker price — larger packs are usually but not always better value, and the difference over a year can be significant either way.

Does this account for insurance or prescription charges?

No, deliberately. Copays, deductibles and subsidy schemes differ by country and person, so guessing at them would make the answer look more precise than it is. Enter what you actually pay.

One thing this cannot do

This is an arithmetic tool, not medical advice. It works out numbers from what you type in — it does not know your medication, your prescription, or what you should do if something goes wrong. Anything about changing a dose, spacing doses differently, or handling a missed dose is a question for your doctor or pharmacist.