Here’s an eye opener if you take this drug…
In Houston stores, prices for 90 tablets of generic Prozac:
“Walgreens: $117
Eckerd: $115
CVS: $115
Sam’s Club: $15
Costco: $12
Those aren’t typos. Walgreens charges $117 for a bottle of the same pills for which Costco charges $12.”
Rest of the story here. Nevermind the Prozac. Adult beverage, anyone?
Someone who bought Prozac at Walgreens will need a lot more of it upon reading this post 🙂
I followed the link and read the article. It’s interesting that in one comment one person calls Sam’s Club an ‘evil company’… not the Walgreens who are charging 10 times as much for the same stuff. Hmm.
-Alex the Canuck @ NMC
Wow, I guess Sams and Costco need to get better at advertising their products or raise their prices so they can make a few more bucks. (not that I really want them to do that) Walgreens and Osco couldn’t charge that much if people weren’t willing to pay it. A professional football player makes that much because that is what the market allows. Walgreens and the other stores have the advantage of repeat customers because “they are used to shopping at that store”. It is hard to train a dog to do new tricks. We can apply that logic to our business and work hard to train others so they will shop with us and not where they are used to going.
Nancy Carlson
http://www.perfectmombusiness.com
I have a friend who a few years back, who had to have a liver transplant. The cost of the medication she has to take to live is outrageous. With other physical complications, she is currently on disability with Social Security.
Now here is the sad part…she got a small raise from social security disability which put her $20. over the guidelines for Medicare. So now she got bumped to another level and has to pay $100 out of pocket, monthly, for Medicare.
If you do the math you can see that now, because of her “raise”, has actually lost money. Now she has $80 less a month in her budget, due to a $20 raise.
The pharmaceutical companies, and pharmacies, as well as the health industry, needs to be revamped. Something is terribly wrong with our system.
I live in Florida and evil Wal-mart charges $4 for generic prescriptions down here!
Even though I have great health care coverage, I love what Wal-mart did! It really helped lots of people out!
Suzanne
Yikes! Prices like these are a driving force in getting people searching for alternatives. More and more people are becoming disillusioned with the health care (talk about a misnomer) system and seeking out ways to feel better that don’t involve doctors and prescriptions.
There are so many natural alternatives to help elevate mood that make paying such a high price totally optional these days. Although not many insurance companies are reimbursing for natural products…yet.
Tracy
~~~
Natural Mood Enhancers from the Rainforest
Medication costs
The Big Pharmas are usually the target of my consumer ire…grrrrr
I have been a member of Costco from way back when it had a different name in Virginia. Their prices are competitive on most everything.
Readers here should know that they do not need a membership to buy medications at Costco. Anyone can use the Costco pharmacy.
For buying other things – yes you need to be a member. But I have found they are the least expensive for my eyeglasses, my contacts, and most of my office supplies. And the cost of my membership is a tax deduction ☺
Lynn
grow older better
An important note: Costco and Sam’s Club are both membership stores, but they cannot stop you from using the pharmacy. Just tell the person at the front door you are going to the pharmacy and they’ll let you in. Just don’t try to purchase anything else while you are there if you don’t have a membership.
Here’s what I want to know — How do these crazy price differences effect insurance prices? Does Wal-Mart charge insurance companies even more to make up for their incredible generic drug pricing? Their pricing is better than most insurance co-pays so why would I use my health insurance for a prescription?
I read all the posts on the Freakonomics site as well and it is an interesting dilemma, if you want to call it that. One argument is that Walgreens and CVS make most of their money from prescriptions, while Sams Clubs and Costco and now Walmart take a loss on these prescriptions and are able to do so because prescriptions are a tiny fraction of their business.
It would be interesting to know how much the actual wholesale generic price is for Prozac.
Thanks Kim for sharing this information with us!
Laura Kane
Boston, MA
Before everyone runs out to the stores to see if they carry your RX, check Costco’s website. They list all their RXs and the costs.
Don’t know about Sam’s Club
I am in Oklahoma and Walmart recently began a program in their pharmacy department that actually saves the customer a lot of money on prescriptions.
Walmart is like every other retailer, compare them before buying. Sometimes they have great deals and other times not so great.
Brenda Bunney
405-612-0473
networkmarketingsuccessbunney.blogspot.com
http://BrendaBunneyMLM.com
brendabunney@yahoo.com
Kim, years ago I used to take Prozac since bi-polar disorder and depression is in my family tree and in me. Well, before my days as a networker, I lived the life of either taking Prozac (or some equivalent) or having my life full of what I referred to as slow days. I preferred to have slow days to be as doped as some of the other anti-depressants made me. After a while on Prozac I started getting headaches and some other side effects that I no longer wanted to live with.
Within 90 days of starting on the pomegranate product, the people who cared about me noticed I sounded really good. I noticed I had energy I hadn’t had known before in my life (except in a few manic phases), only now I was just always in a great-feeling place! I began to realize that is the place a lot of folks get to start living from and while it was too late to be jealous that I hadn’t had it earlier in my life, I sure was glad to have found it. It’s been nearly 2 years now, and the product turned out to be the best thing in my life to defeat the heredity of my bi-polar disorder, without medication and medications’ side effects.
Even though my main network business is now Electromagnetic Field damage reversing, I won’t stop using and recommending the pomegranate product because of the multitude of improvements in my life from it.
Carol
http://www.sabaforlife.com/carolharse