Area pharmacists question drug prices at Wal-Mart
15-Dec-2006: Consumers might not be getting exactly what they bargained for with Wal-Mart's new $4 drug program - which now lists 50 of its generic drugs as costing $9, not $4.
The issue is confounding some consumers, as well as the Tennessee Association of Pharmacists, which is thinking of challenging the legality of Wal-Mart's drug plan if the chain's practices are found to be illegal under state fair trade law.
Dr. Baeteena Black, executive director of the Tennessee Association of Pharmacists, said she had been getting calls and e-mails about Wal-Mart's plan. Black said consumer protection laws about pricing are set up to discourage monopolies and encourage competition.
"Those laws were put in place in the 30's, and they have been amended a few times," Black said. "It has never been amended specifically relative to pharmacy or health care issues."
The Wall Street Journal recently performed an online survey of 2,493 U.S. adults in which 13 percent of the respondents said Wal-Mart, Target or K-mart were their destinations for prescriptions previous to Wal-Mart's new $4 plan. After Wal-Mart announced its plan, 50 percent responded they would use Wal-Mart or another big retailer.
The generic prescriptions on the list of 314 are made up of 143 compounds in varying doses and therapies, according to the Wal-Mart press release. It remains to be seen if the prices of the remaining generics will be successfully challenged by any organization in relaton to the fair consumer pricing laws.
Rick Sain, owner of Reeves-Sain Drug Store in Murfreesboro, and president of the Tennessee Pharmacists Association, said the stores had to be losing money on some of their drugs.
"You can't just come in and sell something below your cost just drive out the small guy," said Sain. "You have to at least set a fair price. That's what all the states that have fair trade laws in place are looking into because you cannot dispense a prescription for $4. They are saying you can."
Wal-Mart spokesperson Kory Lundberg maintained Wal-Mart was not selling below cost.
"None of the drugs in Wal-Mart's $4 generic drug program are being sold below Wal-Mart's cost," Lundberg said.
Lundberg said Wal-Mart clearly listed which drugs on Tennessee's list are $9 and which are $4 when they sent out the initial press release.
"This is the list of drugs we provided when we rolled the program out in Tennessee, which does indicate some of the drugs will be higher than $4, due to state law," Lundberg said.
Black said current laws are general and as yet need to be interpreted.
"These are general laws that say basically, as a state, we don't think that it's a good idea for somebody to come in that's big and has deep pockets to go in and sell something under cost to run everybody out of business because history shows that when you have a monopoly in the marketplace, then prices rise," Black said.
Sain said another drawback to Wal-Mart's plan is a lack of personalized service, which, he said, turns health care into "a commodity."
"Obviously, the other part is that the patient is going to Wal-Mart, getting their $4 prescription and staying at their other pharmacy," Sain said. "Then, neither pharmacist knows what all the patient is taking to get a good history and talk to the patient about it."
Jeannine Shaw of Murfreesboro, who said she buys many items at Wal-Mart, including prescription drugs, said if personalized services would cost more, she'd opt for lower prices.
"I know what drugs I need and what they do, and if I couldn't afford the drugs, what difference would that make, anyway?" Shaw said.
Lundberg said the reason Wal-Mart could sell at that price was because of its regular pricing policies.
"A lot of it has to do with what Wal-Mart really does best and that is driving the cost out of the system and passing those savings along," Lundberg said.
Carma Nell Smith, who uses Smyrna Rexall Drugs, said she would not be jumping ship from Rexall to Wal-Mart. Smith added that her yearly cost for medications last year was roughly $17,500 for her COPD of the lungs, heart disease, high blood pressure and psoriasis.
"I am going to stay with Lee [Rexall owner Lee Cole]. I may have three generics," Smith said. "They deliver my medicines. ... I feel like [Wal-Mart] gets you in there for your medications and they say, 'Well, you can go shop until we get it ready.' Well, I am not in there to shop."
Source: Daily News Journal
