Wal-Mart to offer $4 generic drugs

[colubrid]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060921/D8K9A7TO7.html


By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO
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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Wal-Mart announced today that it will start a test program in Florida, where it will sell generic prescription drugs for $4 for a 30-day supply. The test will start tomorrow in 65 Tampa Bay-area stores and is to expand to the whole state by January.

In a statement, CEO Lee Scott says the world's largest retailer intends to "take the program to as many states as possible next year."

On average, generic drugs tend to cost between $10 and $30 for a month-long supply.

The world's biggest retailer said that it will test the program in Florida that will make 291 generic drugs available, which are used to treat a variety of condition from allergies to high-blood pressure. It will also be available to the uninsured.

The program will be launched on Friday at 65 Wal-Mart, Neighborhood Market and Sams' Club pharmacies in the Tampa Bay area in Florida and will be expanded to the entire state in January.

The company said it plans to take the program to as many states as possible next year.

"Each day in our pharmacies we see customers struggle with the cost of prescription drugs," said Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott, Jr., in a statement. "By cutting the cost of many generics to $4, we are helping to ensure that our customers and associates get the medicines they need at a price they can afford."

The initiative would be the fourth time since last October that Wal-Mart has moved to improve health benefits.

Wal-Mart's recent moves to improve its health care plan include relaxing eligibility requirements for its part-time employees who want health insurance, and extending coverage for the first time to the children of those employees. Part-time employees, who had to work for Wal-Mart for two years to qualify, now have to work at the company for one year. This year, Wal-Mart also expanded a trial run of in-store clinics, aimed at providing lower cost non-emergency health care to the public.

Last October, Wal-Mart offered a new lower-premium insurance aimed at getting more of its work force on company plans.

But critics argue that Wal-Mart's coverage calls for a deductible that requires workers to pick up the first $1,000 in medical expenses, and the deductible rises to a maximum of $3,000 for families.

Union-backed Wake Up Wal-Mart, one of its most vociferous critics, have called upon Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart to offer better health care coverage and higher pay to employees.

Critics contend that the company's benefits are too stingy, forcing taxpayers to absorb more of the cost as the workers lacking coverage turn to state-funded health care programs.

This past summer, Wal-Mart won a successful fight against a first-of-its-kind state law that would have required the retailer to spend more on employee health care in Maryland. A federal judge ruled in July that it was invalid under federal law. But other states are considering similar legislation aimed at the company.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I hate Wal Mart...  I have tried shopping there a few times in my life and never had a good experience there.

Now, you can't pay me enough to go there.  Knowing they sell drugs cheaply won't change a thing, except maybe to add yet another layer of disgust and distain for that hole.

Def

[colubrid]

Def,

Why don't you tell us how your really feel?...LOL!

Actually, I think no employers should provide health care.

80 years ago a doctors visit cost one days pay and the doctor came to you. Now we wait hours for a visit that costs 2 weeks salary. All this brought about by employer provided health care that allows the medical industry to crank up the prices for consumers who arent price conscious due to their insurance. Government price controls on wages durring WWII led employers to compete for scarce labor through non wage benifits (health care). Years later we consider it a right or even a standard, when in reality it has only been a tax shelter for everyone but the poor and led the American Medical Association to become the strongest monopoly in the country. One that makes Walmart and Microsoft look relatively weak.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I am glad that's one thing I don't have to worry about.  We pay higher taxes in Canada but at least I can get drunk and do something stupid and know I'll be taken care of.
Def

[colubrid]

I can get drunk and do something stupid and know I'll be taken care of

Is that what a soSmurfpillst government does to you?

[Grant Lamontagne]

Government is government regardless of the labels applied to them.  At the risk of getting into a political discussion, there has been very few, if any, ideal governmental situations in the history of mankind.
I like the fact that I can get into an accident at work or at home and not have to concern myself with how I am going to pay for it.
Def

[Fred]

Like I needed another reason to shop at target?

[Lion]

I'm not getting something, how is Walmart offering cheap generic prescription drugs a bad thing? What am I missing?

Leo

[Grant Lamontagne]

In my case it's a dislike and mistrust of a company like Wal*Mart.  I have never had a good experience shopping there, and I have tried shopping in quite a few of them around the country.

I am also terrified as Wal*Mart is starting their own brand of wine....

Def

[Lion]

I am also terrified as Wal*Mart is starting their own brand of wine....

Def

 
Now that IS scary. Please tell me it was just a misguided attempt on your part to be funny. Please?

Leo

[Grant Lamontagne]

I wish it was.  Letterman even did a Top Ten list about it.

Top Ten Slogans For The Wal-Mart Wine

10. “When Kmart Wine Just Won’t Do”

9. “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Wine”

8. “Show Your Friends How Little You Care”

7. “Kills Germs on Contact”

6. “Recommended by 4 Out of 5 Drifters!”

5. “Crack Open a Can Today!”

4. “Fresh From the Vineyards of Aisle 6”

3. “Here’s to Making Bail!”

2. “Feeling Down After Being Thrown Out by Britney?”

1. “Goes Great With a 20-Dollar Hooker”

Def

[colubrid]

LOL! Thats a great top ten list.

[bobofish]

To put it delicately, it's a little bass ackwards to say that employer provided health care has driven up the cost of care.

Rather, it's a combination of several factors; insurance companies control the monopoly on actually covering that employer provided health care. The companies don't need to compete with each other for the simple reason that there are only a limited number of hospitals and doctors; therefore they accept most insurance companies. The employers then have only apples and oranges to compare, largely it is only a factor of how big their risk pool is. A 25 employee company can not shop for the same pricing as a 25,000 person risk pool....then add on top of that insurance industry collusion.

Then, add the detail that during WWII, there was no such thing as a CAT scan....technology has developed. The tech part of the health industry competes largely with itself for newer and better products, they don't have to compete for prices, because the doctors simply demand those products. Then the doctors must pass on the costs to the patients' insurance companies, which pass on those costs to the patients, because this is healthcare for profit.

Thirdly the insurance industry has an armada of tricks towards not paying for services rendered. Consequently doctors only see something like an average of 60% of their actual bill paid. They must then do two things: first, hire a specialized clerk to deal with each separate insurance company, which means they must pass on the cost of that new employee, and second they must raise their costs further when their new equipment, medical school loans, and various insurance policies must be covered for, because they are also in the business for profit.


Oddly, the US spends by far the most per capita on health care in the entire industrialized world, but has the worst care of the top 15 nations. England, who has a famously slow medical system that is widely complained about by the English, has something like the 5th best system in terms of actual results and life expectancy.


As far as Walmart offering low cost meds though, if they weren't such a god-aweful company with such a long standing history of labor abuse and unfair business practices, I would applaud them.

[Grant Lamontagne]

And crappy service.  Don't forget the crappy service...

Def

[Fred]

can't forget their crappy service

[665ae]

Hehe...  I hate to say this... but the Walmart by me is pretty good.  The employees have always been helpful and polite...

(preparing to duck and cover)

[bobofish]

People are people.
Even when you treat people like garbage, a lot of them will still treat you well.

[colubrid]

Most of the people at walmart have been decent. its just always the guy who works full time at the sporting goods section. I have been to several walmarts and these guys are the lasy, rude and simply don't care about selling. Why is it always the sporting goods section,,,why why why??

[prime77]

Most of the people at walmart have been decent. its just always the guy who works full time at the sporting goods section. I have been to several walmarts and these guys are the lasy, rude and simply don't care about selling. Why is it always the sporting goods section,,,why why why??

I agree with you, I work nights and when I get there it's usually after 2am and the guy who works in sporting goods is the meanest, think he knows everthing kind of guy.