Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Wal-Mart Introduces $4 Prescription Drugs to Montana

Due to the huge success of Wal-Mart's $4 prescription drug program that was launched in September in Tampa, they are extending the program to 49 states (North Dakota Wal-Mart's lease their pharmacies and are not included).

Missoula's two Wal-Mart pharmacies and 10 others statewide will join with stores in every state except North Dakota to offer the cut-rate price for up to a month's supply of 331 generic drugs.

That's roughly one-fourth of the prescriptions Wal-Mart dispenses nationwide.

Fifty of the drugs on the list will sell for $9 in Montana and a handful of other states, because of state laws, according to David Tovar, national spokesman for Wal-Mart. (Missoula pharmacists at Wal-Mart were directed to forward all media questions to its national office.)

Among the more popular $4 drugs on Wal-Mart's list are amoxicillin, an antibiotic, and the cardiac drugs lisinopril (brand name Prinovil) and atenolol (Tenormin).


“We had such a great response from our customers, our pharmacists and elected officials all over the country saying we'd love you to do this in our state, we decided to speed up the roll-out by a few months,” Tovar said.

Bill Simon, executive vice president of Wal-Mart's Professional Services Division, said in a written statement that the company has received “hundreds of letters and e-mails from customers over the last few months telling us how this program has changed their lives.”


Wal-Mart is going to save a lot of money for people who need it most.

In a media release, Wal-Mart estimated customers in the first 38 states to participate in the program will save $1.3 million each month on the diabetes medication metformin (brand name Glucophage), and $750,000 a month on warfarin (Coumadin).


CEO Lee Scott says it best...


Lee Scott, president and CEO of Wal-Mart, said in a written statement the program is “bringing more affordable medicines to our nation's seniors, working families and the uninsured.”

“We are proud to have introduced competition to an area where it has been too scarce for too long,” Scott said. “We hope others will continue to join us in making prescription medicines more affordable and accessible for all Americans.”


This is smart business for Wal-Mart.
They will attract a lot of new customers into their stores who will increase their purchasing at their stores. This is the free market working it's magic.

3 comments:

  1. Andy, you should pick your heroes more carefully. Want a good example of the free market, look at Cosco. At least research a bit before puking out a press release verbatim. Here are some factoids for you.

    1. There are NOT 331 drugs, there are 123 drugs at verying dosages.

    2. American Taxpayers spend over 9 BILLION each year on healthcare costs for Walmart employees as they choose to have over 775,000 employees without healthcare. Now, if they were the shining example of the free market that you want them to be, wouldn't they be offering health care to their employees. If that isn't how it is supposed to work, then how?

    3. You get one more for free, after that I am going to make you do your own research.

    Wal-Mart’s List Includes Only 1 Percent of Generics on the Market, Less than 10 percent of Commonly Stocked Generics. The New York Times reported that more than 11,000 generic drugs are currently on the market, and other large pharmacies routinely carry more than 3,000 generics on their shelves. The number of drugs in the Wal-Mart program, which the company misleadingly represents as, “as 143 compounds,” represents only a tiny percentage of these numbers. [New York Times, 9/22/06; Generic Line, 10/4/06; Wal-Mart release, 10/19/06; News Observer (NC), 9/23/06]

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  2. The left in the west boys again show their free market ignorance. Walmart employees would gain nothing from getting health insurance exept lower wages or less job openings. I wish my employer didn't pay my insurance and just paid me more.
    Maybe this will help them understand free markets.

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  3. Here is a private company doing something that will help people and Shane the lib seem upset. He should be glad 10% of Walmarts commonly stocked drugs just got cheaper. Not trying to use it as an attack. Is the government the only place people should get help? Maybe we should have the goverment make drugs. Then we can had $100 aspirin.

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