Last year, I was taking a prescription drug for cholesterol that carried an unusually high co-pay.

Typically, I think I’m a pretty savvy health-care consumer. But I continued to pay the steep co-pay for months, until it occurred to me to ask my primary-care physician whether a generic could work as well.

He switched me to a generic drug, and I lowered my co-pay by about $50. And my cholesterol levels didn’t notice the difference.

There are many other ways to save money on health care. If you have a tip for savings, please submit it in the space below. We’ll include them in this feature.

Andy Miller