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PEP Nov. 2006
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Public Employee Press

No real savings on Wal-Mart generic drugs

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Wal-Mart shook up the prescription drug market with its recent announcement of a pilot program in Florida that will charge customers $4 for a 30-day supply of certain generic drugs.

At first glance, the program may look like a good deal for DC 37 retirees and members since the union drug benefit has what it calls a $5 co-payment for generic drugs.

In reality, participants will save nothing — or perhaps only a pittance — at Wal-Mart. That’s because $5 is the maximum generic co-pay in the DC 37 plan, which actually charges even less than $5 for many medications.

“Our $5 co-pay for generic drugs is actually a sliding scale that is adjusted to reflect the real cost of the drug to the prescription benefit manager of our plan, Innoviant,” said Rosaria R. Esperon, administrator of the DC 37 Health and Security Plan.

The Wal-Mart program includes about 150 different medications under 300 names and dosages. Initially, Wal-Mart said it would only offer the $4 co-pay deal in the Tampa area. But if the pilot program worked, the retail giant said it hoped to take it nationwide, which drug industry analysts say could lead to a drop in drug prices. Indeed, Target responded by announcing that it will adopt the $4 co-pay for generics.

Esperon reported on the Wal-Mart plan Sept. 19 at the union’s Delegates Council. Later, Wal-Mart announced it would extend the plan to 14 states, including New York.

Esperon’s remarks prompted two delegates, Local 372 Executive Vice President Santos Crespo and Local 375 1st Vice President Jon Forster, to urge members and retirees not to be lured into Wal-Mart’s stores by the illusory savings.

For the labor movement, Wal-Mart represents all that is wrong with the 21st century economy: low wages, health coverage that employees can’t afford, job exports, the ugly corporate assault on unions and the resultant falling standard of living for millions of workers.

“Cities wind up subsidizing Wal-Mart because it doesn’t pay its workers enough to be able to contribute to their company health plan, so they end up in the emergency room, which ultimately results in the bill being passed along to you and me as taxpayers,” said Crespo in a PEP interview.

“As trade unionists, we need to educate people that Wal-Mart is bad for workers and bad for the economy. Wal-Mart is an anti-union company whose policies are driving down wages throughout the country and driving many neighborhood stores out of business,” Forster said.

 

 

 
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