Who says America's No.1 retailer Wal-Mart dislikes health care? While it may not offer health care coverage for a majority of its employees, the giant discount juggernaut has no qualms about selling generic drugs. In fact, Wal-Mart has embraced prescription drugs as a means to increase revenue.
The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer is introducing a $4 generic drug prescription program in 14 states that will include 1,264 stores: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas and Vermont. The move follows a trial program that was launched in the retailer's 235 Florida Wal-Mart pharmacies on Oct. 6 that seems to have been a moderate success. Wal-Mart said it filled 88,235 new prescriptions in Florida in the 10 days after it rolled out the program.
Wal-Mart's program includes 314 generic prescriptions available for up to a 30-day supply at commonly prescribed dosages. Wal-Mart estimates that the list of $4 prescription medications represents nearly 25% of prescriptions that it currently fills in its pharmacies nationwide.
In a time when Americans are coping with an expensive and inefficient health care system, Wal-Mart looks to have hit a chord where there is tremendous demand. Already, Wal-Mart's competitors, Target and the Publix supermarket chain in Florida, have responded by lowering their prices on generic drugs in Florida in recent days.
Generic drugs are medicines no longer covered by a drug maker's exclusive patent, so they contain the same active ingredients, but are usually available at a substantial discount.
Wal-Mart hopes to expand its generic program nationwide by 2007. So, while most of Wal-Mart's employees — not to mention millions of other Americans — don't have health insurance, at least these people have an option to use their hard earned money to purchase generics from their employer. And that's a prescription that Wal-Mart certainly wouldn't mind filling... — Gerald Magpily
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