Walmart's New Health Food Push: Is It Too Hard to Swallow?
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Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) made global headlines over a year ago when the world's largest retailer announced plans to have a whole slew of $4 generic drug prescriptions available at its U.S. locations. Other retailers followed (not all), and Wal-Mart's hope was probably that $4 generic prescriptions would lead more customers into stores.The retailer reported that it has "saved" customers nationwide more than $1 billion, with the top "savings" states being Texas at $132.6 million; Florida at $72.4 million; North Carolina at $48.2 million; and Georgia at $42.3 million. Wal-Mart also reported that almost 30% of those prescriptions are filled by customers without insurance.
But my question is this: how is Wal-Mart measuring this amount? Sure, one can say that the difference between an average generic prescription drug price and the newer $4 rate equals this amount -- and call it a "savings." That's probably the way this is being measured, and I don't see a problem with that. In addition to that, Wal-Mart forced the hand of competitors to lower these generic prescription prices as well. Will Wal-Mart use more than a press release to let customers know about this? Let's hope so -- because it lets too many good PR opportunities slip by without due promotion. This one is a biggie.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-18-2008 @ 10:34AM
roudy11z said...
I have a drug plan with my company where the cheapest generic drug for us is $6.66. WMT ($4) saves me $2.66 per prescription without filing on my insurance. This helps all of us and again you have a fair and balanced blog log.WMT= low prices ALWAYS.
RoudMan
3-18-2008 @ 10:39AM
caribe traveller said...
The WalMart move triggered Publix Supermarkets to lower the cost of certain generics to $0.00. This saves me $7.00 per prescriptions, although I usually shop the store while I'm waiting. Since this is my regular grocery, I'm probably not spending a lot more on groceries. I'm guessing all the retailers offering lower cost pharmacy may see a compensating increase in store sales.
3-18-2008 @ 12:29PM
blablabla said...
WALMART is anti-american,pro-china....products out of china are garbage or worse...BUY ELSEWHERE.
3-18-2008 @ 5:08PM
Brockage said...
Like Roudy and caribe, it sure works out for me. I have a prescription benefit in the health plan I pay into, yet Wal-Mart does my prescriptions cheaper. I actually don't understand that, but it's ok with me. Wal-Mart is one of the few companies that gives me a break. I appreciate it.
3-25-2008 @ 3:45PM
Joyce said...
Wal-mart does give $4 generic prescriptions. But the kicker is that the ones they give for this price are the very lowest priced ones out there. Not all generics are this price. It would have to be one that originally didnt cost much more than this to begin with. So you really arent getting a big savings and the people who need the price break generally have more expensive prescriptions that Wal-mart doesnt discount at all.