The "Wal-Mart Effect"

Stephanie Saul at the NYT writes:

As overall health care costs continue to rise sharply, prescription drugs have emerged as a surprising exception.

She suggests one reason could be the so-called Wal-Mart effect. Last fall, Wal-Mart began offering many generic prescriptions at $4 a month. Target quickly announced a similar plan, and Kmart expanded its program, which offers a 90-day supply of generic drugs for $15. Other retailers have followed with their variations. Publix, a grocery store chain with 684 pharmacies in five states in the Southeast, announced last month that it would not charge for prescriptions for seven commonly used antibiotics.

Wal-Mart’s current list of discounted generics includes fewer than 350 drugs.

But, on Tuesday, Wal-Mart announced that, beginning next year, 2,400 generics would be available to its employees at $4 a month. The company has also indicated that later this month it may make an announcement regarding its generic drug program for consumers.

Go here to read the rest of this excellent article.