Wal-Mart to Sell Generic Drugs for $4
Sep 21, 10:38 AM (ET)
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Wal-Mart announced today that it will start a test
program in Florida, where it will sell generic prescription drugs for
$4 for a 30-day supply. The test will start tomorrow in 65 Tampa
Bay-area stores and is to expand to the whole state by January.
In a statement, CEO Lee Scott says the world's largest retailer
intends to "take the program to as many states as possible next year."
On average, generic drugs tend to cost between $10 and $30 for a
month-long supply.
The world's biggest retailer said that it will test the program in
Florida that will make 291 generic drugs available, which are used to
treat a variety of condition from allergies to high-blood pressure. It
will also be available to the uninsured.
The program will be launched on Friday at 65 Wal-Mart, Neighborhood
Market and Sams' Club pharmacies in the Tampa Bay area in Florida and
will be expanded to the entire state in January.
The company said it plans to take the program to as many states as
possible next year.
"Each day in our pharmacies we see customers struggle with the cost of
prescription drugs," said Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott, Jr., in a
statement. "By cutting the cost of many generics to $4, we are helping
to ensure that our customers and associates get the medicines they
need at a price they can afford."
The initiative would be the fourth time since last October that
Wal-Mart has moved to improve health benefits.
Wal-Mart's recent moves to improve its health care plan include
relaxing eligibility requirements for its part-time employees who want
health insurance, and extending coverage for the first time to the
children of those employees. Part-time employees, who had to work for
Wal-Mart for two years to qualify, now have to work at the company for
one year. This year, Wal-Mart also expanded a trial run of in-store
clinics, aimed at providing lower cost non-emergency health care to
the public.
Last October, Wal-Mart offered a new lower-premium insurance aimed at
getting more of its work force on company plans.
But critics argue that Wal-Mart's coverage calls for a deductible that
requires workers to pick up the first $1,000 in medical expenses, and
the deductible rises to a maximum of $3,000 for families.
Union-backed Wake Up Wal-Mart, one of its most vociferous critics,
have called upon Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart to offer better
health care coverage and higher pay to employees.
Critics contend that the company's benefits are too stingy, forcing
taxpayers to absorb more of the cost as the workers lacking coverage
turn to state-funded health care programs.
This past summer, Wal-Mart won a successful fight against a
first-of-its-kind state law that would have required the retailer to
spend more on employee health care in Maryland. A federal judge ruled
in July that it was invalid under federal law. But other states are
considering similar legislation aimed at the company.
--
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
"There are no absolute certainties in this universe. A man must try to
whip order into a yelping pack of probabilities, and uniform success is
impossible." -- Jack Vance
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMverizon.net
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