Wal-Mart Stores Alter Drug Plans Wal-Mart Selling $10 90-Day Prescription Drug Supplies; Target To Do Same

Reposted in response to a request at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3250068&mesg_id=3254869

(Preface: I learned about this new development in LBN, at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3297487 . I'm posting a more thorough article mentioning Target's similar program, along with direct links to formularies at Walmart.com, Kmart.com, and Target.com, because some may not have seen the LBN link.

I myself have saved hundreds of dollars since I saw a thread similar to this one many months ago. Maybe I can return the favor another DUer did me then.)

From http://www.courant.com/business/hc-walmartrx0506.artmay06,0,6669911.story :

"Wal-Mart Stores Alter Drug Plans Wal-Mart Selling $10 90-Day Supplies; Target To Do Same

By PEGGY HARRIS | Associated Press May 6, 2008

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, announced Monday it would expand its discounted prescription drug program to offer 90-day supplies for $10 and add several women's medications at a discount. It also said it would lower the price of more than 1,000 over-the-counter drugs. The move marks the third phase of a company program that began in 2006 to provide a 30-day supply of generic prescription drugs for $4. The Bentonville-based company said the program has saved customers more than $1 billion.

With the expansion, the company began filling prescriptions Monday for up to 350 generic medications at $10 for a 90-day supply at Wal-Mart, Neighborhood Market and Sam's Club pharmacies in the U.S. ... Wal-Mart also will lower the prices of more than 1,000 over-the-counter medications to $4 or less in its pharmacies, company officials said. Wal-Mart has sold over-the-counter medicines in the past at discounted prices, but revised and expanded its offerings specifically to include commonly used drugs that usually sell for $7 or more, said company spokesman Deisha Galberth. ... The over-the-counter medication price rollbacks represent about one-third of the retailer's over-the-counter medicines. ...

Since 2006, Wal-Mart's $4 generic drug program has expanded to every state, except North Dakota, where Wal-Mart has no in-store pharmacies. And many rivals have followed its lead. Target Corp. said late Monday that it also will reduce prices on prescription and over-the-counter drugs by expanding its assortment of $4 prescriptions, offering 90-day supplies for $10, and selling over-the-counter medications for $4 or less. ..."

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Through some Googling, I found the Walmart low-price "formulary"--the complete list of medications and dosages that Walmart is now selling 90 days worth for $10 apiece. It's in a 5-page PDF dated May 5 2008 at http://i.walmart.com/i/if/hmp/fusion/four_dollar_drug_list.pdf .

For comparison, KMART lists a small part of its $15 90-day formulary in a PDF brochure at http://www.kmart.com/ue/home/BROCHURE_90Day.pdf . If you live near a Kmart Pharmacy, it may be worth visiting regularly to pick up a printed copy of the latest list, which grows a bit longer every few weeks.

TARGET has a $4 30-day formulary linked at http://sites.target.com/site/en/health/page.jsp?contentId=PRD03-004319 . I don't see anything yet about their new $10 / 90-day program (mentioned in the AP article above), but maybe in the future they'll combine 30-day and 90-day lists and keep the same URL, just as Walmart did yesterday.

for prices of meds and not a giant, bloated company that has done more harm to America than good. I mean its great for people who need the savings now, but isn't this a bit sad.

than "our" government.

Exactly--and I DETEST Wal-Mart--but low-cost prescriptions are a valuable public service.

capitalist ingenuity and competition. You always can count on capitalists to try to increase their profits, but you usually can't count on politicians for anything but trying to get re-elected by any means necessary.

WalMart, Kmart, Target, and other department stores aren't offering these deals for our benefit, you can be sure of that. They've always advertised to bring traffic throught their aisles. Two years ago, sore sharp pencil at Walmart must have trun some numbers and found that a "low-price prescription program" would bring a large number of the same people back through the aisles of Walmarts every 30 days like clockwork, for a cost that must have beat any form of advertising Walmart had tried.

If you read the fine print of all the "low-price" programs froim all the competitiors, you'll always find that prescription delivery at the low price NEVER is avaliable by mail. This is no accident. I've never been to a WalMart, but every Kmart and Target I've ever visited has the same kind of layout, with the pharmacy in a far corner. In order to get your meds every 30 or 90 days, you must traverse hundreds of feet of aisles stuffed with focus-group-tested eye-catching displays of non-pharmacy items. Greater revenues on those items more than pay for any pharmacy revenues forgone in low-price programs.

It would be great if government had "social entrepreneurs" exercising this kind of creativity, but I've seen little evidence of such ingenuity from government lately. Have you?

It would be very, very tough for a startup "social entrepreneur" company to wield the kind of volume-buying clout that a WallyWorld or Target' has.

In any case, I would not be surprised to find that these prices have a limited lifespan, to say...after the elections.

for two years, and Kmart has offered a $15 90-day formulary for almost that long (that's the competitor Walmart just leapfrogged with a $10 90-day forumulary). See the OP snippet from the AP article.

My point in my first reply is that the retailers evidently regard any drug price givebacks on the "low-price" deals as highly cost-effective "advertising", to bring foot-traffic back to the stores like clockwork. IMO they are not a "flash in the pan".

and most targets I know of have the pharmacy pretty close to the front (maybr you have to walk through health and beauty). I don't generally go to Wal-Mart so I cant speak about others..

That may have something to do with it.

But even the older CVSes I visit have thier pharmacies as far as you can get from the front door.

Maybe your area has a younger demographic?

So did Fays back in the day and while the Wal-mart by me is probably a bit old the targets Im thinking of are pretty new 'super-targets'.

I think of cvs, welgreens and fays (do they exist anywhere anymore) as sort of corporate pharms with a mom and pop layout. Small independent pharmacies always had the pharmacist in the back of the store.

But I'm sure as Walmart and Target move more and more into providing pharmacy services and things like the minute clinic you'll see future layouts change. Its just the rules of retail always put the lucky charms on the lower shelves so kids will see them and put candy by the registers, etc...

from the front door...they seem to have a standardized floor plan as part of their business model.

from yesterday's thread (linked at the top of the OP):

"Your thread got lost in Primary traffic - can you repost so we can recommend it up?
Those links at the bottom to the formularies are incredibly helpful and I'd love for those who only see the Greatest page to get the links.

Could you repost so we can rate you up???? Thanks"

I rarely recommend but the info in those links is incredibly helpful.

Thanks again for posting.

way another DUer passed information about the Kmart program to me hundreds of dollars of savings ago.

I realize that Wal-Mart and other large corporations are very big business and yes, that they will and have turned a profit from the programs that they offer. There are even more drug companies(unfortunately)that haven't offered the kind of savings that Wal-Mart has and have made just as much money. And some have made much more profit through name brand price gouging. For those that don't think it's a common practice... I had a prescription that cost almost $80.00 dollars a month and then we found we could get the same thing in generic form later on. Thank God! I am so grateful that at least there is an option now for those of us that cannot access or do not have access to standard health insurance. Its been a life saver for us. Thank you for posting this! :D

My deductibles on scrips were outrageous--target (and all the others) $4 are so inexpensive I don't even have to bother with my insurance--a big help to me.

I have insulin-dependent diabetes and a few secondary complications, so this is a big issue for me.


the poster upthread is right--it gets me into the store to buy, oh, I don't know--toilet paper, milk--maybe even a t-shirt or two for my rapidly growing 11 year old son.

I won't begrudge TargetCorp (whom I used to work for--very good employer for the retail trade) a few dollars in profit; part of which they donate back to my son's school...

We all have to do the best we can. :hug:

when I want quality medications, I always go to someone who is selling those made by slave laborers in a country with no quality control procedures in place.

I just love to pump those into my kids. And think of all the money I save.

Do you think the other pharmacies that sell them for much more buy their meds from someplace else?

They pretty much all come from the same handful of factories, I believe.

Because we all know that when one goes to Wal-Mart we want to not only pump our children full of unknown products, we also want to promote slavery at the same time.


Please research before you make such hurtful comments. There are many people right under your nose that do not and have not had a choice for medical care and use these programs because they offer us a way to still take care of ourselves and our families without the high costs of health care. You have either not researched most drug companies (which many are based out of the United States to save overhead costs) or you have had the luxury to have the option of health insurance. You go to a doctor and pay out of pocket and then go to a pharmacy and make the choice between a month worth of food or a prescription for your child. Or maybe electricity. I suppose the choice would be let them sit at home and hope universal health care kicks in within the next eight years? :eyes: