private insurance folks, how did the 25 buck discount clear

i'm on private work insurance, and i've been trying to figure out the 25 dollar thing without calling it a savings card ten times. my plan is commercial but has a huge deductible, and the pharmacy quoted me something like 187 at pickup last month. they said the discount only applies after the claim runs, and if it's not covered at all it might not stick. i also saw fine print about not being on any government plan, which i'm not, but the pharmacy tech wasn't sure either. i'm up weird hours after games so i keep re-reading the terms at 2am and getting more confused. for people who actually got it down to 25: did you have to ask the pharmacy to run it a certain way? did your insurance have to deny first? also unrelated, my soda swap is now zero-sugar cream soda and it's the only thing keeping the late-night raids from turning into snack raids.