Rite-Aid Pharmacy vs. Wal-Mart Pharmacy

[MIGrandma]

I have always gotten my prescriptions at Wal-Mart and have always had great service. Until...they raised my Metformin from $10/month to $68/month. So, I called around and discovered I could get it for $10.75 at the Rite-Aid pharmacy just down the road so had that prescription transferred. That was almost a year ago.

I went this afternoon to refill the prescription, and I have 2 refills left up to March 16th so I asked if I could have them both. She said she couldn't give both of them to me today, could just fill the one, but I could come back in a couple of days and get the other. I asked her how much it would be as I knew insurance wouldn't pay for the second refill so soon after the first, so knew it would come out of my pocket 100%. She looked it up and said it will be the same price, $10.74. I was pleasantly surprised!

Now if THEY can give me a month's supply for $10.74 what's up with Wal-Mart charging $68 for the same medication?! I did ask the pharmacist, before I actually transferred the prescription, about the "price matching" that Wal-Mart does and he said it doesn't pertain to prescriptions and he couldn't give me as good of a price as Rite-Aid could.

I really don't understand such a HUGE price difference.

And I'm usually a big fan of Wal-Mart, but not in this case.

 

[Imzadi]

I have always gotten my prescriptions at Wal-Mart and have always had great service. Until...they raised my Glucophage from $10/month to $68/month. So, I called around and discovered I could get it for $10.75 at the Rite-Aid pharmacy just down the road so had that prescription transferred. That was almost a year ago.

I went this afternoon to refill the prescription, and I have 2 refills left up to March 16th so I asked if I could have them both. She said she couldn't give both of them to me today, could just fill the one, but I could come back in a couple of days and get the other. I asked her how much it would be as I knew insurance wouldn't pay for the second refill so soon after the first, so knew it would come out of my pocket 100%. She looked it up and said it will be the same price, $10.74. I was pleasantly surprised!

Now if THEY can give me a month's supply for $10.74 what's up with Wal-Mart charging $68 for the same medication?! I did ask the pharmacist, before I actually transferred the prescription, about the "price matching" that Wal-Mart does and he said it doesn't pertain to prescriptions and he couldn't give me as good of a price as Rite-Aid could.

I really don't understand such a HUGE price difference.

And I'm usually a big fan of Wal-Mart, but not in this case.

Are you sure they didn't give you the price for the generic version?

 

[TriMom]

I can not figure pharmacy pricing out at all. My DH was on methotrexate. We were getting the generic drug. "My" Walgreens was charging $130 for the Rx. I was running errands and I happened to be in the Walgreens about 3 miles from "my" Walgreens. Since I was there I went to the pharmacy to see if I could get the Rx filled there instead. No problem - that will be $68. No one could explain to me why the same company 3 miles apart had such a huge difference in price.

 

[MIGrandma]

Are you sure they didn't give you the price for the generic version?

I've always had the generic version, at both pharmacies.

I fixed it in my OP.

 

[Tink415]

Pharmacy pricing, and the price insurers pay, is a maddening game. It takes a huge amount of time to compare prices and its impossible in many cases unless you have all day to do nothing else. BC/BS told me prices fluctuate daily

 

[mlittig]

Metformin is the generic drug for Glucophage

 

[maelstrom]

Just go to the pharmacy at Target.

 

[Ephany]

Regular Metformin (not ER) is on the free list at Publix down here, maybe there's another pharmacy in your area who offers the same type of diabetes program?

As for medication pricing, it's incredibly complicated and is managed above the store level at corporate. Depends on contracts, suppliers and a bunch of other reasons.

 

[superme80]

I'm not a fan of Wal-Mart pharmacy because I have always received bad service, and they did not carry the drug I needed. I am a huge fan of Target.

 

[Pooh67_68]

Regular Metformin (not ER) is on the free list at Publix down here.

My mom gets hers free from Shoprite.