While I have never seen a disparity that large outside the USA, local pharmacies can vary as much as three times as expensive for the exact same med from the same manu.
So they definitely decide how much markup to charge.
I get my scrips at Walgreen’s. One drug I take runs about $16 per month after insurance. One month I was out of town and had not received my new insurance card, since it was in the mail at home. The non-insured price was about $80, but the lady said “Join our prescription card club for $20, and you get the meds for $10. $30 is better than $80!” I said OK.
Now I’m home, have my new card, and go for a refill on another prescription. Guy notices I have their card and charges me $5 (regular insurance price is about $16). I remark I have my new insurance card. He says he’ll let this one slide, but people with insurance can’t use the prescription club card. He tells me to call the number on the back of the card and ask for a refund. I call, and Walgreen’s sends me a $20 check which arrived less than a week after I call.
How can Walgreen’s make any money with those kinds of discounts? Are the markups on the pills that high, or are they hoping to make money off of other stuff I might buy while in the store?
Concerta 54mg from the same Sam’s Club (and the same employees) fluctuated over a couple years from $175 to $190 from month to month depending upon whether they rung up full price, insurance rate, or the premium business club member rate.
One day the price went up to $240 because they changed suppliers – about a 1/3rd increase. I protected and a nearby pharmacist looked into it. She came up with $150 using the premium member discount – a significant decrease from the old price and a huge decrease from the new price – despite the supplier charging more!
Bottom line: There sometimes appears to be no rhyme or reason for big price differences.
Well in situations like the one described in my OP, I’d really be interested in who is raking in all the profits. Thats thousands of dollars.
My mom has a prescription that on insurance costs more than getting it form a mail-order pharmacy in Kentucky (legitimately licensed, BTW.) And then there’s Walmart’s $4 prescription plan that really helps with medication.
But I’ve never seen a drop as big as the one mentioned in the OP, Well, except if you’re smart enough to go buy the separate parts of something like those NSAID-antacid combinations.
“Pharmacies can also charge vastly different amounts for the same generic products. Consumer Reports surveyed 200 pharmacies around the country and found a wide spread in prices. Atorvastatin (Lipitor) ranged from $150 at CVS to $17 at Costco. Clopidogrel (Plavix) had a similar variation, from $15 at a discount drugstore to $180 at a large chain.”
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2014/01/06/be-wary-of-stratospheric-increases-in-generic-drug-prices/
You would think the DoJ would have power to prosecute for GOUGING.
Huge markups are gouging, its also a form of bait and switch as they are “apparently” saying its not a generic, by putting the high price on. I know, you will say that they didn’t write “NOT A GENERIC”, but the high price implies it by “you get what you pay for”.