Wal-Mart Widens Drug Discounts

[one-eyed-fatman]

Originally Posted by Ed Ely

This is news! Something that will
help everyone.

Ed

Not quite. My insurance doesn't allow us to buy from walmart. Probably a lot of others out there that can't buy from walmart either.

[Cogz]

Originally Posted by one-eyed-fatman

Not quite. My insurance doesn't allow us to buy from walmart. Probably a lot of others out there that can't buy from walmart either.

Your insurance tells you where you can and cannot buy generic meds?

Its simple - tell your doctor to send your prescription to Wal-mart and pay in cash. How will they ever find out?

[Frenchy]

Originally Posted by Brickboy240

Wow...a post that includes Wal Mart that is not a direct attack on Wal Mart!

Refershing to say the least. I thought Wal Mart was the focus of evil in the modern world.

- Brickboy240

It certainly is among the Liberals.

[Frenchy]

Originally Posted by one-eyed-fatman

Not quite. My insurance doesn't allow us to buy from walmart. Probably a lot of others out there that can't buy from walmart either.

I've never heard of such a thing.

[one-eyed-fatman]

I don't have the need to buy drugs myself (not very often). It's my wife and her mummy that tell me this. All I really know is when walmart started this they went their and couldn't get what they needed so maybe there's more to it than I know about. I think I'm going to have to pull a franky and go .

[ichy_trigger]

Originally Posted by one-eyed-fatman

I don't have the need to buy drugs myself (not very often). It's my wife and her mummy that tell me this. All I really know is when walmart started this they went their and couldn't get what they needed so maybe there's more to it than I know about. I think I'm going to have to pull a franky and go .

It shouldnt matter where you go, insurance is only paying a dollar amount and your stuck with the rest. Ive never had any insurance turn down any pharmacy. Maybe Walmart didnt have a particular medicine.

[AZXD]

Originally Posted by ichy_trigger

It shouldnt matter where you go, insurance is only paying a dollar amount and your stuck with the rest. Ive never had any insurance turn down any pharmacy. Maybe Walmart didnt have a particular medicine.

Most likely ... Walmart didn't accept the insurance carrier.

[akhimark]

Originally Posted by ichy_trigger

Cars are too damned expensive, I want the Gov. to regulate auto makers!

Same with big screen HDTVs. I have a right to a 70"plasma. Some one else has the responsibility to pay for it.

[cucamelsmd15]

Originally Posted by one-eyed-fatman

Not quite. My insurance doesn't allow us to buy from walmart. Probably a lot of others out there that can't buy from walmart either.

Originally Posted by Frenchy

I've never heard of such a thing.

Originally Posted by AZXD

Most likely ... Walmart didn't accept the insurance carrier.

Just to clear a few things up here (as I have 8+ years of background in this area).

Prescription plans work like this:

Insurance company<->Provider<->You

When you walk up to the pharmacy counter to get a prescription filled, chances are that 90% of the time, that pharmacy takes your insurance. The other 10%, they dont. This can be due to contract discrepancies from either the insurance company OR the provider, and generally has nothing to do with you.

Example: My prescription insurance is accepted at Rite-Aid, Walgreens, CVS and Eckerds (now Rite Aid anyway) that I know of off the top of my head. Notice anyone missing from that list? Wal Mart wants too much kickback from my company, so Wal Mart doesnt honor their insurance. There is no contract. Tying in to AZXD's point, this is a two way street. Insurance carriers may not accept claims from your local pharmacy.

Your insurance can tell you where you can and cant buy your meds, and which providers (i.e. doctors or specialists) you can or cant see. Dont like it? Find another insurance company. As long as they foot the bill for part of it, they have a say in what goes on. This is why you have "preferred" formularies and "preferred" providers.

It is your responsibility to read the fine print on the health plan before you sign your name on the dotted line.

To further build on the article Frenchy posted, Wal Mart NEEDS to grow its profits in the pharmacy area. Pharmacists and techs working for them are already the lowest paid on the scale, but the pharmacy end has consistently barely broken even for the past few years, right up until I left the company a few years ago.

[one-eyed-fatman]

but the pharmacy end has consistently barely broken even for the past few years, right up until I left the company a few years ago.

So walmart is using their pharmacy like they do the on site gas stations. A ruse to get you into the store to buy other things? Sounds like what your saying.