Healthcare costs are both the most important category to optimize and the most dangerous to cut carelessly. The frugality framework here is: eliminate waste without eliminating care.

Generic medications are identical to brand-name equivalents by law. The FDA requires generics to have the same active ingredient, strength, dosage form, and route of administration as their brand-name counterparts. Paying brand-name prices for a genericized drug is pure waste. GoodRx and Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs frequently deliver significant savings on both generic and some brand-name medications.