Everyone is well aware of the problematic health care industry. It seems the more and more you pay for your health care benefits the less and less they cover. There are many factors that go into the reasons for this failing health care system and I wont go into all of them. One of the easiest and most obvious reasons we can point to is the cost of prescription medication. I am personally on a bunch of medications so I compared some of the prices on my medications. Lets begin with Nexium (taken for acid reflux disease). My pharmacy, CVS, charges $151.99 for a 30 day supply. Walgreens doesnt even offer this medication to get a price comparison. Costco sells that same medication for $130.67. I also checked Lisinopril (blood pressure). CVS charges $13.39 for a 30 days supply, Walgreens is $13.90 and Costco is $6.79. We are not talking breaking the bank numbers here if you break it down per customer. If you imagine the amount of customers just Walgreens and CVS service times the amount of the inflated prices you can easily see how much more the insurance companies are shelling out than they do not have to. If you pay for any medications out of your pocket, and many Americans do, you can see it is the simple decision to buy your medications through Costco. You do not need to be a member of their club to buy prescriptions either and if there isnt one close by you can by them on-line. There has been a lot of press about the cheaper costs of medicine if you buy it from Canada. Costco is even cheaper than Canada believe it or not. My father-in-law has been buying his medications through Canada for years and I just let him know Costco was even cheaper. His prescription, Vytorin, was $279 for a 90 day supply in Canada. Costco gives him a 100 day supply for $265 and he pays an additional $15 for shipping through Canada. I have also been doing a lot of comparisons from on-line pharmacy websites. You may find some websites that appear cheaper than Costco or Canada but in most cases it is just appearance. Some of those websites charge monthly membership fees to be able to buy from them. I saw one for $15/month. Some others hide their costs in the shipping. Even worse, some of them are overseas and if they go out of business and keep your money good luck getting your money back. Why am I pushing Costco? No, I do not own stock in it and I do not work for them. It just bothers me to see these billion dollar companies, like a Walgreens or CVS gouging prices so when I see one that is much more reasonable I like to point it out. So, help the healthcare system in this country, buy your medications at Costco. |
