8/8/2023 0 Comments Safeway monopoly odds![]() Pharmacists warn however, to avoid potentially harmful drug interactions, it is important to fill all of your prescriptions at one pharmacy. "I assumed that prices were somehow controlled as far as pharmaceuticals, this instance opened my eyes to something totally different." That is just one more reason Rex gives for price checking prescriptions. However, prices may vary between cities due to tax differences. Unlike Safeway and Walgreens, CVS/Longs, Rite Aid, Wal-Mart and Costco all have consistent pricing throughout the state. Walgreens suggest cash-paying consumers join their $20 Prescription Savings Club. In response to the ConsumerWatch report, Safeway says it will now price match lower cost prescriptions from any Safeway store or competitor. More than 95% of our pharmacy business is covered by third-party prescription insurance or a prescription discount plan." Safeway told ConsumerWatch "There are some price variations between some locations, but the vast majority of our customers do not pay the prices that your report notes. In a statement to ConsumerWatch, Walgreens explained "Drug prices for the less than 3 percent of patients who pay cash for all their prescriptions are based on the drug manufacturer's price, other operational factors and local competition." "The pharmacist didn't give me any kind of explanation." ![]() That's when he first realized the cash price for his prescription was different depending on which Walgreens pharmacy he had it filled at. "I'd been laid off from the job that I had so my health insurance went away" said Rex. San Francisco contractor Art Rex leaned that the hard way. Therefore the price will actually be higher (at stores in low income neighborhoods) than at stores where the customer can go to any of five different places" explains Krughoff. "We've found that sometimes stores in low income neighborhoods have a monopoly and people don't have much choice. The more expensive Safeway pharmacy had only two competitors within a half mile. The more expensive store also charged $18 dollars more for the blood pressure medication Lipitor and $58 dollars more for the same 30 count, 50 milligram bottle of Viagra.Ī cross reference of the stores' competition found the cheaper Safeway was surrounded by five pharmacy competitors - the closest was just feet away. ![]() They found a $25 price difference for blood pressure medicine Norvasc between two Safeway pharmacies just a little over a mile apart. "Even within a big chain, the particular stores that are near low price competitors may bring prices down" said Krughoff.ĬonsumerWatch found that was true of some Safeway pharmacies where prescription prices varied greatly within a few blocks. ![]() Robert Krughoff, President the non-profit consumer magazine "Bay Area Checkbook", attributes the price variations to competition. For instance, the cash price for Viagra at most Bay Area Walgreens is $695, but it is $75 cheaper at six other Walgreens stores – three in the North Bay and three others in the South Bay. They found many people are overpaying for prescriptions, not because of the pharmacy chain they use, but because of the store "location" they choose. SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) - Bay Area pharmacy customers could avoid overpaying for prescription drugs by simply finding another location of the same pharmacy chain, according to a CBS 5 ConsumerWatch investigation.ĬonsumerWatch price-checked prescriptions at 85 stores from six pharmacy chains throughout the Bay Area.
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