The federal government has a new Medicare drug discount program that has completely bombed. Sign ups have been atrocious and seniors have been very confused by the process. In addition, the government came up with some weird rules, saying that companies selling drugs could list low prices and then increase those prices after seniors bought the cards. So something that could have helped seniors has been really one-sided so far. The good news is that you can still get really great deals on medicines depending on where you live and where you shop. The consumer group, Consumer’s Checkbook, compared 17 of the most common prescriptions. The group found gigantic differences from one pharmacy to another. The hormone replacement drug Premarin, for instance, cost $151 and one pharmacy and $66 at another. Of the various pharmacies, the lowest prices were at Costco Wholesale. And you don’t have to have a membership to buy prescription medicines there. Buying prescriptions online can also make a tremendous difference. You can save about $30 on average. Also, insurance providers are starting to put more of the responsibility on members. The days of $5 prescriptions are gone. So, if you take a regular maintenance medication, you owe it to yourself to shop around. Check out more at checkbook.org.