$4 Sale
Click for list of medicines available as part of $4
sale at Walmart
As per press release from
Wal-Mart dated Sept. 21, 2006, it will make nearly
300 generic drugs available at a low price in Tampa
Bay, Florida. Up to 30 days supply of these
generics at commonly prescribed dose will
cost only four dollars. As per
Wal-Mart press release, following are the key
components:
-
The $4
pricing will be available to all pharmacy
customers with a prescription from a doctor that
can be filled with a covered generic medicine.
-
This
program will be available to the uninsured.
-
Insurance will be accepted.
-
The
program presently covers 291 generic medications
from many of the most common therapeutic
categories.
-
The
medicines represented are used to treat and
manage conditions including allergies,
cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes.
Some antibiotics, antidepressants,
antipsychotics and prescription vitamins are
also included.
-
The
program will be available statewide in Florida
in January 2007. Wal-Mart intends to take the
program to as many states as possible next year.
Responding
to this, chain store
Target announced that it will match rival
Wal-Mart’s price on 150 generic drug prescriptions
in Tampa bay area.
Now this is
the kind of competition we like!
Here
are my thoughts:
-
I think
this is a great news; not only for about 50
million uninsured, but also for many more who do
not have good prescription coverage.
-
I hope
Wal-Mart and Target will release the list of
medicines and also the names of the categories
these drugs belong to (e.g., beta blockers, ACE
inhibitors). The doctors struggle to find ways
to help their patients save money on
prescriptions on a daily basis. I am sure they
will find the list very useful.
-
Wal-Mart has said that $4 price tag will be for
these generics at “commonly prescribed dose”. I
hope this “commonly prescribed dose”, as
Wal-Mart sees it will be made known to the
doctors too.
Click for list of medicines available as part of $4
sale at Walmart
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