Pharmacists slam Wal-Mart's new Medicare drug plan

[cal04]

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/corporate-news/122113-community-pharmacists-slam-walmarts-new-medicare-drug-plan

The community pharmacist lobby is blasting Wal-Mart's latest Medicare prescription drug offering, saying the superstore's joint venture with Humana will penalize seniors who want to buy their drugs from local pharmacies.

"This is simply Walmart’s latest ‘loss leader,’ intended to bring more people through its doors at the expense of patient care and quality customer service," National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) President Joseph Harmison said in a statement. "Patients are being financially coerced to get their medications at Walmart stores which make up less than seven percent of all of the retail pharmacies in the U.S."

On Friday, Walmart and Humana announced that they'd joined forces to offer seniors a new Part D plan in 2011. The Humana Walmart-Preferred Rx Plan boasts a national monthly rate of $14.80 per month, but co-payments will vary depending on where seniors purchase their drugs. In-store generic co-pays will start as low as $2 in "preferred" pharmacies, including Walmart and Sam's Club, the company said Friday, but rates will be higher in other shops.

(snip)
"The relationships independent pharmacists have with their patients," Harmison said, "greatly encourage better patient adherence to their prescribed medication regimen, which can lower overall health care costs."

[BrklynLiberal]

1. I agree with the community pharmacist lobby . One more set of businesses that WalMart is trying to

put out of business....

[SocialistLez]

2. If they make up less than 7 percent...

What is the big deal?

In any case, I'd love to see some anti-trust violations thrown in Wal-Marts direction.

[starroute]

3. The first problem is that they're trying to increase their share

The second is that Walmart's standard business model is to move in somewhere, drive everyone else out of business by underpricing them, and then jack up their own prices once there are no alternatives.

So that could be a very big deal.

[the redcoat]

4. Just because they are small NOW

there is nothing stopping Walmart from expanding like the American waistline if this venture works.

The difference between the entrepreneurial spirit and what Walmart is doing is that they have so much money that this is not "going out on a limb" for them. They can pour so much money in at once that they can essentially ensure they will not fail.

Walmart does not fail the same way other American businesses fail. They cannot gradually be shut out of an industry due to competition. They have enough money to destroy the competition before it starts or jump into a new industry at will to ensure their survival.

Therefore, we cannot treat them like other businesses. If we want them to fail for our own good, we cannot be complacent, we must loudly declare we will not lose our money there, and we must have an answer when someone challenges our position.

(A quick answer: 94% of money spent at Walmart leaves the community)

[RandomThoughts]

5. Hence why the monopolies and big corporations should be smaller.

So there is competition, and ability for new business to start up.

I don't believe in the matrix game delusion. But some do, so I will say it in a way that makes sense from that view.


If the goal is for the most happiness for the most people, what would happen if a few people ran around an MMO with all the tweeked gear, all the money, and just told everyone else what they had to do.

Nobody would be happy, and that is what happens in a consolidated world.


And for the people that think that will bring the end times, remember only God judges, and if you want the bad conditions that bring the end times, knowing that is much suffering for many people, are you really sure how you would be judged?

Although I don't think that should be a motivator, since that is God's decision(or said in some places, decisions of those appointed by God, which is an extension of God's authority and decision), although I don't think supporting systems that create less happiness is a good idea. It seems some 'end timers' think of it that way.

And in any literal translation of scripture where old verses are applied to today, you have to think on the sayings, it is not yet the end times. And the comment on not thinking because there are things like wars and earthquakes that the end is near. So literallist have a bit of a paradox in that concept... Since there is verse that says it is not the end times.

Nights in White Satin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9muzyOd4Lh8

There is a paradox in that song also, I wonder on that.