GoodRx/Coupons creates some odd problems/interactions with insurance.<p>We were prescribed liquid Tamiflu (Oseltamivir) for a child with the flu. We have high deductible health insurance. The insurance "discount" cost was $105. The GoodRx price was $40.<p>But this creates an odd and illogical conflict: Hypothetically we should always pay the lower price, but the higher price counts towards our insurance yearly deductible and out-of-pocket maximum, whereas the GoodRx price does not.<p>So we have a type of insurance specifically designed to encourage us to find cheaper medical services, but GoodRx undercuts the insurance itself, forcing us to choose between our deductible and the rational price.<p>The US should just outright ban insurance "discounts" (which are a fiction anyway). That way everyone pays just one price: Cash, insurance, Medicaid, or whatever. Plus then medical providers can actually publish realistic price lists instead of fiction with "discounts" on the fiction.
> “ Our revenue has grown at a compound annual growth rate, or CAGR, of 57% since 2016, and reached $388 million in 2019, up from $250 million in 2018. Our net income was $66 million in 2019, up from $44 million in 2018, and our Adjusted EBITDA was $160 million in 2019, up from $128 million in 2018. Our revenue grew 48% in the first half of 2020 to $257 million, up from $173 million in the first half of 2019. Our net income was $55 million in the first half of 2020, up from $31 million in the first half of 2019, and our Adjusted EBITDA was $101 million in the first half of 2020, up from $75 million in the first half of 2019.”<p>Wow, that’s some healthy margins. Profitable for the last few years with strong growth on both top line and bottom line.
If anyone else is curious on GoodRX’s business model, here is a good write up I found from HBS <a href="https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-digit/submission/goodrx-or-greatrx/" rel="nofollow">https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-digit/submission/goodrx-or-...</a>
I know a few pharmacists and they <i>hate</i> GoodRx. Why? Because of the added fee on top of the discount. They often end up underwater (losing money on the Rx).<p>I've even heard of some pharmacies doing a "cash price" match of GoodRx. Customer is happy (still get lower price) and the pharmacy is happy (they don't pay the GoodRx fee).<p>Makes me wonder about the longevity of the business model.
Imagine the wild level of data they have on the US population, every person with an illness or disease, their name, address, dob, everything in a billing requirement.<p>The only problem is it is likely many more people without insurance than with because of the nature of their product.<p>If that database ever leaks, wow there will be hell to pay, or maybe not, hasn't really been in the past, did people ever get their $100 payout for the other leaks?<p><a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/health-privacy/goodrx-shares-users-health-data-with-google-facebook-others/" rel="nofollow">https://www.consumerreports.org/health-privacy/goodrx-shares...</a>
one of the few companies to file an s-1 recently with healthy numbers. cash flow positive. profits. and considering state of us health care, I would buy stock in this company
I was searching for their revenue model. Here is what page 21 of S1 says:<p>"To date, the vast majority of our revenue has been .. derived from our prescription offering. When a consumer uses a GoodRx code to fill a prescription and saves money compared to the list price at that pharmacy, we receive fees from our partners, primarily PBMs. Revenue from our prescription offering represented 97% and 94% of our revenue for 2018 and 2019, respectively, and 95% and 91% for the first half of 2019 and 2020, respectively."
I absolutely hate GoodRx.<p>Its a symptom of a horrifying lack of medical coverage and care in this country. If it actually becomes incredibly successful it will embody the same perverse incentive structure as Intuit -- to remain successful they would be best served by lobbying against universal healthcare and affordable medicine in general so their offerings remain valuable. In the same way Intuit lobbies against simplifying the tax code. Every time this happens it further entrenches the existing nightmare.<p>Medicine in this country needs wholesale reform, not coupon clipping for insulin.<p>[edit] Coupon clipping for life saving medicine is apparently as good an S-1 as it would be a Black Mirror episode.
Other than the app, how is GoodRX’s business model different from the multiple other discount cards out there? What did they figure out that non of the others did?
Making profit off human well-being, I consider this a flaw of the capitalism.<p>There should be an easier fix than introducing another private for profit entity in the health care system.