New online portal allows New Mexico residents to compare prescription costs
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Nearly 1,000 New Mexicans have already accessed a new online portal which provides transparency about how much the cost of prescriptions and medical procedures vary from one location to another.
Introduced in 2024, the state service now has been updated to include costs in Spanish for the first time.
Ervin Garcia, health systems epidemiology program manager for the New Mexico Department of Health, said in addition to prescriptions, the portal shows the average costs for doctor visits and medical procedures.
"They can compare how much it would cost in one city versus the other because when you search you can put in your ZIP code and it tells you the closest around you," Garcia explained.
Research suggests health care quality is enhanced when people know what they will pay ahead of time. It also shows most people take at least one prescription drug, and lower prices help people better maintain overall health and wellness.
Garcia noted the online service could be a lifesaver for folks prescribed medicines or procedures who do not feel comfortable revealing their financial or insurance status to medical professionals.
"This kind of helps ease the health care procedures that way, so that they can kind of get a familiarity on how much it would cost," Garcia added.
Americans do not necessarily take more medications than people in other wealthy countries but federal government data from 2022 show U.S. prices across all drugs including generics were three times as high as prices in comparable countries.
