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Medicare Drug Program News
Wal-Mart Adds 11 Generic Drugs to Discounted
Prescription Drug Program
Just in time as senior citizens fall into Medicare's
doughnut hole
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One month ago, the antifungal Lamisil had an
average price of $337.26. The generic equivalent, terbinafine, is now
available through Wal-Mart for just $4 for a commonly dispensed
quantity up to a 30-day supply, saving customers $333.26 per
prescription. |
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Sept. 28, 2007 -
Just at a time when many senior citizens are falling into the Medicare
drug program's doughnut hole, where their prescriptions are not covered,
Wal-Mart Stores has announced new additions to its list of generic drugs
that are available for just $4. There are now 361 drugs available in the
program.
Wal-Mart
Stores on Thursday announced that it will begin selling eight
additional generic drugs for $4 per 30-day prescription and several
family-planning drugs for $9,
USA
Today reports (Appleby, USA Today, 9/28).
The added medications include treatments for
glaucoma, attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder, fungal infections and acne (Albright,
St.
Petersburg Times, 9/28). In addition, Wal-Mart will offer
generic versions of the birth control drugs Ortho Cyclen and Ortho Tri-Cyclen
and a fertility drug for $9 per 30-day supply.
The discount drug program, which started in
September 2006, now will cover 361 prescriptions representing different
formulations of 157 generic drugs (Saul,
New York
Times, 9/28). The new additions add about 24 prescriptions to
the program (Bernstein,
Long
Island Newsday, 9/28).
According to Wal-Mart Chief Operating Officer Bill
Simon, the program has saved customers and the U.S. health care system
$610 million (New York Times, 9/28). Paul London, an economist working
with the company, said drug makers "are going to have to change the way
they approach the pricing of brand-name drugs as generics become more
available" (USA Today, 9/28).
Other retail chains, including
Kmart,
Publix
and
Target,
have advertised similar programs (St. Petersburg Times, 9/28). Target
officials on Thursday said the company would match Wal-Mart's discounts
in all prescriptions categories, the
Newark
Star-Ledger reports (May, Newark Star-Ledger, 9/28). The
company said that the $4 program accounts for about 40% of prescription
drug sales at its pharmacies and that the program is profitable (St.
Petersburg Times, 9/28).
Comments
Simon said the first year of the program
"substantially exceeded our expectations," adding, "We will continue to
improve and expand this prescription drug program" (Dorschner,
Miami
Herald, 9/28). According to Simon, the U.S. health care
system is "incredibly inefficient," and Wal-Mart's "core competency is
removing inefficiency from a supply chain" (Long Island Newsday, 9/28).
However, the
National
Community Pharmacists Association has called the discounts a
publicity stunt, saying they apply only to a small portion of the 8,700
FDA-approved
generic drugs available (AP/Richmond
Times-Dispatch, 9/28).
According to Dan Mendelson of the research firm
Avalere
Health, the $4 drug program is "more sizzle than steak"
because private insurers in the Medicare program already offer low-cost
or no-cost generic drugs. Mendelson added that Wal-Mart's program
generates good publicity and helps uninsured customers, but "it's not
health reform" (USA Today, 9/28).
Click
here for complete list of generics on Wal-Mart list. (pdf)
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