Ever felt even your generic prescription drugs were pricey?
Well, in another entry for the series of “Too Good to Wait”, it’s:
Forget zee Whyyte Laydee! Drop Dat Blunt! -Look out, Pablo!
=>CVS!;… -In- -Da- -HOUSE-!!!!<=
-Along with Walgreen’s is one of the chief dealers (of marked-up generics; not crack, silly rabbit ;) ).
Apparently generic prescription drugs really are a more lucrative market
-than the rockings of the crack? -somehow?
In one study by the Freakonomics Blog, Walgreen‘s was found to charge ~975% More for generic Prozac than Costco.
In a similar article by the Wall Street Journal, other generic drugs were marked up more than 10x the prices at Sam’s Club.
These included but were not limited-to things like Simvastatin (Zocor).
Other price differences were gigantic, but not all were ~10x more. A few healthcare insurance organizations state that despite drugstore claims that their brand-name profit margins are sometimes as low as 2-3%, the organizations are paying the drugstore chains more than cost.
Several in the comments of the Freakonomics post have referred to the potential for some loss–leader influence, —But the differences are So stark, it’s amazing. -Especially with many old people choosing between medication and food.
-Good God, even the Diamond Industry doesn’t mark up prices this high. (Now if they’d only start selling that sweet, sweet crack at Sam’s Club at $6.97 for 30 20mg rocks, I’d be allllll set! LEEGALEYZE EET! (jk) )
Follow the links for more complete information on your potentially wildly marked-up generic prescription drug’s prices.
Photo Credits:
“Amsterdam 11”, by Dara Gallagher
“Alms”, by Mario Alberto Magallanes Trejo
Links:
Freakonomics – Generics WSJ – Generics
NYS Attorney General’s Rx Getting Finances Done Destination Rx $4 Generics at Sam’s Club
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