Thomas Germain of Consumer Reports recently wrote report on GoodRx, a program to help people get discounts on their prescription medications. The headline, “GoodRx Saves Money on Meds—It Also Shares Data With Google, Facebook, and Others.” pretty much captured the heart of Consumer Report’s concerns and findings.
Caught out publicly, GoodRx reportedly responded and CR wound up updating their report with the following note:
Update: After this article was published, GoodRx posted a statement saying that it planned to stop sharing personal medical information with Facebook, had appointed a new VP of data privacy, and was providing a way for GoodRx users to delete their data.
I would encourage you all to read Consumer Reports original report in its entirety and to read GoodRx’s response post in its entirety.
This situation reminds us of the importance of being able to audit what entities do with our data and not just what they say they will do with it.
It also reminds us of the power of the press.
So what about all those other programs that haven’t been investigated?
GoodRX is just an all around scummy company. Sure, we all know now how they exploit our personal information but what the average consumer doesn’t know is how ludicrous their fees are to pharmacies. In many cases pharmacies will actually lose money using GoodRX. It’s great for the patient but terrible for the pharmacy. Most small mom and pop places won’t accept the card for this reason. It just leads to a loss.
It’s like going to the store and using a $10 manufacturer coupon on a $10 product. You got it for free and couldn’t be happier but what if the manufacturer turns around and only reimbursed the store $2 for the product. It ends up as a loss. That’s essentially what GoodRX does to pharmacies.
Eventually something has gotta give. Larger chain pharmacies will either stop accepting GoodRX or just find creative ways to pass the loss back to the consumer…in fact they already are doing that. When’s the last time you saw a properly staffed CVS? When’s the last time you saw regularly priced merchandise that wasn’t 30% more expensive than everywhere else?