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Safeway Introduces Generic Drug Discounts

Competitors scramble to keep up with Wal-Mart

By Truman Lewis
ConsumerAffairs.com

June 11, 2008

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Safeway will begin offering $4 prescriptions on hundreds of generic drugs at stores in the eastern United States and parts of the Midwest, the latest supermarket chain to follow the trail blazed by Wal-Mart two years ago.

The discounted prescriptions will be available at stores in the Chicago area, the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. The list of $4 drugs includes the antibiotic amoxicillin, blood pressure medication atenolol and levothyroxine for thyroid disease.

Wal-Mart shook up the pharmacy business when it introduced its program two years ago. Target quickly followed but other stores have been slow to do so.

Kroger unveiled its $4 program in February, modeled closely after Wal-Mart's. Walgreen Co. sells a 90-day supply of generics for $12.99, and some regional supermarket chains have discounted some generic prices.

Wal-Mart has been keeping the pressure on.

On May 6, Wal-Mart expanded its program to include orders for 90-day supplies and additional drugs to treat osteoporosis and breast cancer as well as cutting the price of more than 1,000 popular over-the-counter drugs in half, setting off competitive responses by many grocery chains, including Sweetbay Supermarkets, Hannaford Bros., Food Lion and Harveys Supermarkets.

Shop around

But consumers should be sure to shop around. The most publicized programs are not always the cheapest.

A survey released by Consumer Reports last week found that price fluctuations can be dramatic -- sometimes more than $100 for the same prescription – even within the same chain, depending on whether consumers are filling their prescriptions in, say, Omaha, Nebraska, or Billings, Montana.

Costco was the cheapest for the four drugs CR sought quotes for, followed by AARP.com and Wal-Mart. Walgreens and Rite-Aid were among the priciest for the four drugs.

Consumer Reports said it placed more than 500 calls to 163 pharmacies nationwide to gauge price differences among four prescription drugs, three name brand medicines and one generic.

Read more about the CR study ...

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