paying through the nose for meds??????

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sylviayasgur

VR.org Supporter
Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2001
Messages
2,307
Location
Westchester, NY
hi all!
my dad just sent me this email and i found it so interesting, i wanted to share it with you.



This is very interesting....check it out

On Monday night (July 22), Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for
channel 7 News in Detroit, did a story on generic drug price gouging by
pharmacies. He found in his investigation, that some of these generic
drugs
were marked up as much as 3,000% or more. Yes, that's not a
typo.....
three thousand percent! Mr. Wilson did a thorough research, and
checked out all the major drugstore chains, discount chains, independent
pharmacies, and even checked on some Canadian pharmacies. So often, we blame the drug
companies for the high cost of drugs, and usually rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly lies with the pharmacies themselves. For example, if you had to buy a prescription drug, and bought the name brand,
you might pay $100.00 for 100 pills. The pharmacist might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent, they would only cost $80.00, making you think you are "saving" $20.00 What the pharmacist is not telling you is
that those 100 generic pills may have only cost him $10.00!
At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether or
not there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice, and he
said that Costco consistently charged little over their cost for the generic drugs. They gave the link to Costco, which I will include here, so that you can go and check prices for yourself. www.costco.com Costco Online
pharmacy Costco Online I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get it's online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the online prices. I was appalled. Just to give you one example from my own experience, I had to use the drug, Compazine, which helps prevent nausea in chemo patients. I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS. I checked the price at Costco, and I could have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of my pain pills, I paid $72.57. I could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08. I would like to mention, that although Costco is a "membership" type store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there,
as it is a federally regulated substance. You just tell them at the door that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in.
I am asking each of you to please help me by copying this letter, >and
pasting it into your own email, and send it to everyone you know with an email address. And if anyone has other ideas of how to address this problem, please contact me at [email protected].
This practice is almost sinful, and just maybe, working together, we can make a difference. Thank you for your time, and thank you in advance for your help.

hope you're all well, sylvia
 
Syvia,

Thanks for the valuable info. Shocking! I only hope that there is a Costco nearby so that we can take advantage. I have a brother whose wife has diabetis ,had quadruple bypass , and problems with gout and fibromyalgia. He said he spends $400+
a month for presciptions:( .
thanx---b.day wishes:D
 
Just to expand the knowledge a bit behind this (See the full article and click on the links in the article for more information) You might find this very interesting indeed.
http://www.snopes2.com/medical/drugs/generic.asp#origins

Origins: As the popularity of this e-mail attests, the fact that one can find a wide disparity in drug prices from one pharmacy to the next was apparently surprising news to many people. And there's probably some truth to the notion that because we tend to view generic drugs as great "money-saving" alternatives to brand drugs, we often don't consider that the mark-up on generics can vary widely from one retailer to the next.

The basic facts laid out in the message quoted above are true. Steve Wilson, a reporter with WXYZ-TV in Detroit, conducted an investigative study into the cost of generic drugs at various pharmacies and other retail drug outlets and found quite a disparity between the highest and lowest prices charged for certain generic drugs. For example, the Prescription Drug Price Comparison Chart available in conjunction with Wilson's report shows that a one-month supply of Fluoxetine HCL (the generic for Prozac), which wholesales for $1.48, varied in retail price from a high of $92.24 to a low of $9.69 just within the Detroit area.

Comparison shopping applies to generic drugs just as much as it does to food, clothing, DVDs, automobiles, or any other product. Those willing to do some hunting around get the best prices, and many drug comparison sites are available on the web to help consumers compare the costs of various drugs at different retail outlets before submitting their prescriptions. (Medical insurance or HMO restrictions may limit which pharmacies a covered patient can use.)

Although we can't guarantee that Costco always has the lowest prices on generic drugs, it is generally true that their pharmacy will fill prescriptions for non-members (but be prepared to pay by cash or ATM card rather than check).
 
Geez...you are all great! So much valuable info all of the time. Buncha smat people here!

Zip/Jo

Hey Girlie....cute Pix...hehehe!
 

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