How long do you think the $4 prescriptions will be available?

[grasswire]

As I'm sure everyone knows, some store chains provide $4 prescriptions for many generic drugs -- a life-saving fact for many on fixed incomes.

I'm wondering if that offer will be rescinded as the economy worsens.

[Donnachaidh]

1. if they rescind those they stand to lose much more money

Those prescriptions are loss leaders - advertised to get bodies into the store. They KNOW they will lose money on those and are banking on those bodies to spend cash on other products in the store.

It would be especially foolish for the pharmacies to get rid of them, with the economy tanking. They may have only THAT bringing bodies into their stores.

[KamaAina]

2. Some store chains, plural? There are others besides Sprawl-Mart?

Do tell! That would be news we can use!

[grasswire]

8. Krogers, Rite Aid...

...dunno about Walgreens.

[Saturday]

10. Add Target to the list. nt

[yy4me]

15. Walgreen's, CVS, Target in Massachusetts. A family member in

Indiana says that many stores in that area have a $4.00 program plus some offer certain drugs free. One store, Meier's(SP), a grocery chain had a large offering. She told me others but I don't remember the names. Call around. To those of you who cringe at my spelling, there are no Meier's store here.(spell check corrected me)

[NEDem]

3. $4 is here to stay

They may bump them up to 5 or 6 over time, but the stores that do it would be foolish to stop now. They lose a lot of shoppers that way.

[yourout]

4. I wonder if they sell Vitamin V at that price?

Maybe they bundle it with birth control pills.

[terisan]

5. It will stay until massive inflation sets in.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

6. More stores are offering them - $4 for mo supply, $10 for 90 days

My mother was kicked out of medicare D plan, (Medicare office is fixing it, she'll be in a plan
in Feb.)

She takes 10 diff meds, and 4 of them can be purchased from WalMart, CVS, Walgreens and
KMart for this low price.

At Walmart, there's no fee to participate. CVS charges $10 a year to participate, Walgreens charges about double that, and Im not sure about Kmart.

Not all generics are on there, but many important ones.

There are many valuable meds on the list.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

7. YourRXCard is free, and covers many meds the $4 plan doesn't

Alot of prescription card deals aren't worth much, and you don't know how much you will
save until you fill the prescription and head to check out.

Your RX Card is a organization that allows you to get a negotiated price on many meds,
and often you can save 50-60% on alot of meds.

http://www.yourrxcard.com /

With this card - which doesn't cost anything - you can go online and see what price
you can get your medicines for, depending on which neighborhood store you go to.

This is the only card I have found so far that lets you know what you would have to pay
for the particular med, at your preferred store or others.

I found that Walmart, Walgreens, and Harris Teeter Grocery Store were the most competitive,
and saved my mother about 66% on some meds, and 50% on others.

I do not have any connection to YourRXCard, but was very impressed and wanted to share this info.

Without the card my mother would have to pay $90.00 for a medicine,
but with the card might only pay $20.00

[grasswire]

9. maybe that med is only $4 somewhere else

worth checking out those places that offer the $4 meds.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

12. yes, I used that card for the meds not on the $4.00 list

You can go to Walmart, CVS, Walgreen, or KMART to view their list of cheap
generics. There are 400 items on it.

Go to their websites, and you can see the lists of generics covered.

Since my mother has so many meds, I set up a spreadsheet to compare where best costs were.

Unfortunately, there are some generics that are NOT on the cheap list, and can cost as must as
$80 bucks. Those I used the card for.

[elocs]

11. How about this: in order to get a $4 prescription you need to see a doctor.

If you have no health insurance, then how do you go about affording to see a doctor to get the $4 prescription when you already struggle to make ends meet?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

13. Some doctors will reduce the cost of appt

if they know of your circumstances.

The "country" doctor, or a doc with his own practice - may
be more willing to negotiate price.

My daughter has medical insurance but we have a $1,500 deductable to meet,
so I tell the doct office to bill us as self pay.

They give us a better price in that situation.

If you go as insured, then they charge more because the ins co is going to
dicker down the payments.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

14. Some cities have free clinics available.

My city has two. I realize you'll have to wait all day and you may not be able to "afford" to do that either. That is unless your question was hypothetical.

David