$4 Prescriptions

[Annie]

I'd never heard of this. I went to my doctor this morning and he was sending a prescription for me to Walgreens. I always ask for the generic if available, since my insurance will pay the max. I usually end up with a $10 co-payment.
He said to me, "Let me check, I think this is on the $4 list from Walmart.

It was. I can also get it set up they mail to me every month. Pretty cool.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=546834

You'll find a list of all the prescriptions available for $4, listed by 'condition treated.'

 

[Merlin]

Wal-Mart started this a couple of years ago and then other stores followed suit. We use Target. But any big store like these 2 does the same thing. The stores don't necessarily sell the exact medicines for four dollars though, so it's best to get a list from them all. Another thing, one of my medicines calls for 150 mg per day, but I can't find a pharmacy that sells 150 mg for that price, but Target sells 75 mg for that, so I had my Dr. perscribe 75 mg twice a day instead. I get 60 pills now. It works.

 

[Annie]

Wal-Mart started this a couple of years ago and then other stores followed suit. We use Target. But any big store like these 2 does the same thing. The stores don't necessarily sell the exact medicines for four dollars though, so it's best to get a list from them all. Another thing, one of my medicines calls for 150 mg per day, but I can't find a pharmacy that sells 150 mg for that price, but Target sells 75 mg for that, so I had my Dr. perscribe 75 mg twice a day instead. I get 60 pills now. It works.

Seems so much better than the 'medicare prescription plan' paid for by the gov't. Would be less inflationary and people would get what they need. Seems they'd drop a dollar or two most of the time in the store, beyond the $4.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

I pay 9 dollars a prescription for most things, a lot of cheaper meds are 3 dollars and one I think is 22 dollars. I pay for 14 different prescriptions a month. Well actually 12, 2 of them are every couple months. One of them is needles I get 100 needles at a time and use 60 a month and one stomach med originally was 4 a day now it is one a day. I only take 4 if I have to.

Several of my medications had no generics , one still doesn't. And they are not all carried by the military so I can't get them all there. ( on base they would be free)

 

[bennylava]

This begs the question: why are generics SO much cheaper than name brands?
We also have a grocery store here in town who gives away FREE generic antibiotics, depending on the prescription.

 

[TopGunna]

This begs the question: why are generics SO much cheaper than name brands?
We also have a grocery store here in town who gives away FREE generic antibiotics, depending on the prescription.

The name brands are the ones who pony up all the money for R&D, getting FDA approval, and marketing. They have to charge more to recoup those costs.

 

[bennylava]

You're buying their big bag of bullshit too, huh?

 

[TopGunna]

Well, quite honestly, I don't think it's bullshit.

The chemical compounds in most prescriptions aren't expensive to manufacture, for the most part. That's why these $4 prescriptions exist.

The costs associated with developing medicine are more closely associated with the labor that goes into perfecting the compound - not the milligrams worth of chemicals used.

It's similar to how a silicon wafer inside a computer is infinitely more valuable that a bucket of beach sand (silicon dioxide). It's not the raw materials, it's the innovation needed to refine those materials into something useful.

 

[bennylava]

I think the real cost is not in R and D, it's in marketing. I think this country took the wrong turn when we allowed them to start advertising prescription drugs on television. TV ads cost way more to make than print ads. Not to mention, these things should be targeting physicians, not consumers.
Also there is a hidden cost of the bribes that pharmaceutical companies pay doctors to keep writing prescriptions for the newest versions of their drugs. They get tons of free stuff, vacations, presents, free rounds of golf.
I even had one doctor try to persuade me to go from a generic to the newest slightly different version of a drug because he told me it was better. I told him if it's not broken don't fix it.
He told me that he doesn't believe in the concept of generic drugs because it's not fair to the pharmaceutical companies.
Oh boohoo.

If we elminated all the bribery of doctors, limited spending on marketing, we'd see drug costs go WAY down.

 

[Merlin]

This begs the question: why are generics SO much cheaper than name brands?
We also have a grocery store here in town who gives away FREE generic antibiotics, depending on the prescription.

Not sure why, but a rep. from Wal-Mart said on TV one day that it didn't cost but between 3 and 4 cents to make 30 days supply of generic drugs. I take 5 prescriptions per day and 4 of them are generic. My wife takes 23 prescriptions a day and 12 are generic. (yes, we've even had 2nd, 3rd, and 4th opinions about them) We have part D Medicare and it only takes her 90 days to drop into the "dough nut hole". The military listed me in category 8-G so if I see a military Dr. it cost $50.00. But I have supplement insurance and it doesn't cost anything for a Dr. or hospital. After 4 years in the military with an honorable discharge, the only benefits I had is guaranteed home loan and so much to improve my education. Full price for medicine. I can't even join the American Legion. But after 7 decades, I don't need them now.