Wal-Mart Expands Drug Program: 90-Day Prescriptions For $10

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, said Monday it will offer 90-day prescriptions for $10 and lower the prices of more than 1,000 over-the-counter medications to $4 or less.

The company said the offerings are the third phase of its $4 prescription program.

Beginning Monday, Wal-Mart said it will begin filling prescriptions for up to 350 generic medications at $10 for a 90-day supply.

The company said with the over-the-counter medication price rollbacks, about one-third of its over-the-counter medicines are now $4 or lower.

The company said it also added several women's medications to its list of prescriptions available for $9. The medications include alendronate, the generic version of osteoporosis medication Fosamax.

Comments

[CrabbyGolightly]

CRABBY HAS A DIRTY SECRET: SHE LIKES WAL-MART! I should hang my head in shame and avert my eyes any time some 'elite' yuppie looks at me askance for liking cheap products made with Chinese teen labor.

While critics have feverishly documented the deleterious effects of having Wal-mart come to town, Crabby has always been in awe of bath towels and lead-laden children's toys that can be had for dollars!

Now Wal-mart has expanded its discounted prescription drug program to provide up to 350 generic meds at $10 for a 90-day supply! "It offers the customers significant savings,'' a spokesman said. "It also offers us the ability to add capacity to our pharmacies without adding people." More profit without having to provide those pesky and expensive benefits!

Crabby welcomes Wal-mart's foray into cheap drugs, as long as they aren't made at the factory where the blood thinner Heparin was made. Frankly, she's waiting for Wal-mart cancer centers. Because even though some patients might have to die in order to maximize the big box's scaled economy, think of the competitive pressure on your local health care provider! Capitalist America is at its best when we're wringing razor-thin profits from macro economies.

The federal government could learn something from those down-home Arkansans. For Wal-Mart is the paradox that citizens require big government to be: Giver and taker, daddy and mommy, all rolled into one big single-payee provider.

CrabbyGolightly.com.

[racom]

For all the walmart apologist, do some reading and see if you still want to be their defender.
Look at the pay scale for walmart workers:
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=Wal-Mart_Stores,_Inc/Hourly_Rate
http://www.workerscompinsider.com/archives/000601.html
A multi billion dollar company subsidized by tax payers:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Corporate_Welfare/WalMart_Welfare.html
From the NYT on tax payers paying for health care for walmart employees:
http://www.lintonsouthharpeth.com/html/states_vs_walmart_over_health_.html
Work for walmart? You may need welfare! From 2005.:
http://www.alternet.org/story/22298?page=entire
HHS Poverty Guidelines 2005:
http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/05poverty.shtml

[ohiomark]

I would like to know the name of the person who is holding a gun to anyone's head and FORCING them to be a slave at Wal-Mart.

If you are not happy with your employer, then go work somewhere else. It's that simple. I'm sure there is a union out there somewhere who will be glad to take your money (dues) and then do nothing for you.

[Joeseo]

You sure know how to know--nothing, buckeye. The list of those FORCING slavery at Walmart is really too long for you to read. Start with Richard Nixon, next Sam Walton, then the Chinese Communist and then those thieving 'merican store-managers that took so many workers off the clock and kept them locked in for hours cleaning and stocking. Their names can be found in over 40 states' prosecutions for wage fraud.

Sadly, the list does not apply to those holding a gun to their own heads in the form of ignorance and arrogance.

[racom]

You are consistent, consistently wrong! I am enjoying a great retirement due to union negotiated contract packages that included a good living wage, great complete health care, solid retirement income and always worker supported job site conditions. We worked hard, worked safe and got the job done but we had a say in conditions we worked under. We didn't have to just knuckle under or quit, we fought and had success. Don't tell me about paying union dues and not getting anything for them, we got a career, not a walmart job!
You sound like the guy who couldn't cut it, tucked his tail and drifted off. Your choice but I'll take union with the benefits over walmart every day of the week!!!

[ohiomark]

I was in a union back in the early 90's. I didn't know what to think when I took the job, but I went in with an open mind. The health plan we were put in was run by the union and it was terrible. We could never get our union rep on the phone and it took them over a year to pay on a claim, after the doctor put me in collection.
I'm glad you had a positive experience in your union, but I will never be in a union again.

[weaselbasher]

Bravo racom. I work for a union shop. I have a preexisting medical condition. I could not get health insurance if it weren't for my union. I get a good living wage and great benefits. My union dues are well worth what my union does for me.

[ibsteve2u]

Someday it may just be only Wal-Mart...here is hoping that this action on their part is part of a trend, and not just a sales tool, or a tactic to destroy their competitors, or a public relations gimmick...

lollll...sigh...and that is why I have to vote Obama - I dare hope, even after 35 years of watching the corporations and the Republicans destroy America.

[GWChimpzilla]

Strange. I had assumed that Wally*World wanted the benefit of a 30-day prescription in order to get the patients to enter their store at least every 30 days. I'm a poor person and I do take advantage of their drugs.

[psykomf]

With their buying power, its not surprising how low their prices would be. Imagine if our government were actually allowed to use our buying power to get a lower price. We might even be able to afford the drugs and treatments that people with needs are being deprived of.

[WandaBooneshaft]

I called in a refill the other day and when I went to pick it up, they said they were not able to get it from their distributor anymore. I've been on the medication THREE years and it is a very, very common generic drug.

So, since they couldn't get it from THEIR distributor, they took it upon themselves to CALL MY DOCTOR and ask him to SWITCH the dosage or change the medication all together! Gee, THANKS.

The lines are TOO long and I HATE going in there. They have music and TV's blasting ads all over the store and especially from speakers suspended directly above the heads of people standing in line for their medications. You can't get away from it ...

... so I switched all my scrips to a local grocery store. Same drugs, same price, no lines. Problem solved.

[racom]

We can thank our republican representatives for pushing, as in shoving, through the pathetic prescription plan that is designed to bankrupt mediacare. Don't ever forget the crooks keeping open the window for voting on the unpopular legislation for 3 hours. Three hours when the normal is 15 minutes, they didn't have the votes so they kept the vote open while the 'bug killer', delay, threatened, cajoled, twisted arms to force the program through. Bastards pushing a bastardized plan.

[racom]

Until they act like responsible employers and treat their employees with respect and dignity I would not go there if they gave the drugs away. Walmart has such a bad record of abuse of the working people they employee, low wages, no health care, no retirement, gender bias, anti-union etc, etc. All the law suits against them happen for a reason. They spend far more for their legal defense than they do for employee services.

[hoopesaz]

"the law suits against them happen for a reason". Perhaps because they employee 1.8 million employees. Every employer get's sued. If you have employed 3 to 5 million people at your company, the chances go up dramatically.

Sure it's not the only reason, but it has to be a significant factor.

[sandiegoconservative]

My cousin worked for Wal-Mart in San Diego and liked her job and her pay. She moved to New Jersey and was re-hired and is now in lower management after working customer service for about a year and loves it. She is transferring to a store in Oregon in a month to pursue a differenr opportunity with the company and is extremely happy. She works hard, and when that happens, Wal-Mart rewards their employees.

The main reason why you hear about Wal-Mart in a negative light is because the left HATES the company for their success and their business model. Sure they are not always a great employer and sure there are many problems they face. But every employer faces them.

You just prefer someone working part time with no educational background to clear 40k a year for stocking shelves. Sorry, but life does not always work that way.

[racom]

"the left HATES the company for their success" sounds amazingly similar to "the extremist hate us because of our freedom". When did king george start posting on this site? So many post, so little thought behind them!!!

[sandiegoconservative]

Perhaps now that you have vented, you can comment in an intelligent manner. Funny how I hear lots of slogans from the left being tossed around here all the time and you never seem to be around . . .

[ohiomark]

I'll try and post this for the third time:

Since slavery was abolished in 1865, you have the right to work or NOT work for anyone you want, provided they will hire you.

Nobody is forcing you to work at Wal-Mart. The only chains they have there are the ones they sell.

Personally, I'm glad you don't shop there, the store is crowded enough.