I began this study when

I was helping a friend

who had just lost his

prescription coverage

on his health insurance.

Because my friend had

high blood pressure,

diabetes, asthma and

suffered from severe

depression, he

had a lot of expensive

prescriptions that he

had to have filled every

month.

I advised him to shop at

Wal-mart for the $4.00

prescriptions that were

on his list; and, to get

the rest from Costco.

He called me back about

a month later and said

that he had saved over

$200.00 by following my

advice.

As a relief pharmacist I

have worked at many

different chain and

independent

pharmacies.

I discovered that Costco

almost always had the best

prices on most

prescriptions,

especially on generics.

Because of having

had my own pharmacy for 17 years,

I could tell that Costco usually bases their

prescription prices on their acquistion

cost, not on some percent-off of the brand

name - which I consider to be an unfair

practice - like most of the other chain

pharmacies do.

Starting around November in 2006 Wal-Mart began to test-market selling many generic prescriptions for $4.00 for a 30 day supply. The tests were successful and Wal-Mart began to roll it out in several states.

The best list I can come up with currently indicates the plan is available in the following states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

* The $4 Prescription program is subject to the following restrictions.

This program is available at all Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and Neighborhood Market pharmacies, except in North Dakota (the pharmacies inside North Dakota Wal-Mart stores are leased and operated by third-party providers). $4 prescriptions are for up to a 30-day supply of a covered drug at a commonly prescribed dosage. Your participation in certain prescription-drug plans may entitle you to pay even less than $4 for certain prescriptions. If you are eligible, you will be charged the lowest applicable amount. Certain drugs are priced higher in CA, CO, HI, MN, MT, PA, TN, WI, and WY due to state laws.

The list of covered drugs is subject to change. Not all prescription drugs are covered by this program.

Only prescriptions initially filled in person at a participating pharmacy are eligible for the $4 rate; refills must also be picked up in-store, but may be ordered in person, online or by phone. This program is not available for prescriptions filled by mail order. See your Wal-Mart pharmacist for more information.

** Discount pricing on certain prescriptions not available in CA, CO, HI, MN, MT, PA, TN, WI, and WY due to state laws.

A current list of the $4.00 prescriptions from Wal-Mart can be downloaded as a pdf file at

http://i.walmart.com/i/if/hmp/fusion/four_dollar_drug_list.pdf

Target jumped into the fray in North Carolina, and began offering their own list of $4.00 prescriptions, matching Walmart. You can access the list of $4.00 prescriptions available from Target at

http://sites.target.com/site/en/health/generic_drugs.jsp?sort=alpha

Costco did it for a while, then decided to alter the plan in some places to 100 tablets for $10.00. In most cases, this is actually a better deal on a per pill cost.

* Because of a ruling by the Board of Pharmacy in North Carolina, you don't have to be a member of Costco in order to get prescriptions from their pharmacy. I'm sure it's the same in many other states.

Many prescription insurance companies have $10 and $20 copays on generic prescriptions. In those cases you would be better off leaving the prescription card behind when it comes paying for the $4.00 prescriptions that we have been discussing.

I hope this helps a lot of people who are having to decide whether to buy food, or medicine, because they don't have enough money to get both.

Bob Diamond R.Ph

www.DiamondShoppingMall.net