Startup Firm Blink Health Offers Prescription Drug Savings Through Bulk Buying

(CBS SF) -- A startup firm is promising to save consumers up to 95 percent on prescription drugs by using the power of bulk buying.

New York City-based Blink Health allows users to compare drug prices on its website or mobile app, order prescriptions and pick them up at their local pharmacy.

Blink Health pools customer's prescriptions to get the lowest negotiated price for its users, similar to what large companies, insurance firms and the government pay.

Grouping its users' purchases allows Blink to negotiate the same rates as large drug-buying firms.

Brothers Matthew and Geoffrey Chaiken are the co-founders of the company, which began in 2014 as a private service for a smaller group of customers.

"We're sort of democratizing these prices," said Geoffrey Chaiken. "We're able to give every American access to prices only a small swath of the population currently has."

A recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that 24 percent of Americans indicate paying for their drugs is difficult.

Blink posts the prices of more than 15,000 medications, mostly generic drugs, on its website, providing a first-of-its-kind transparency.

There is no co-payment or premiums required, and Blink is accepted at 60,000 pharmacies nationwide, including CVS, Walgreens, Target and Safeway.