Walmarts 4 Dollar List

It sounds really good, really humanitarian. However those medications usually are not that expensive anywhere you get them. After debuting the program last month in Florida, Wal-Mart has expanded the low-cost generic prescriptions to Virginia this week.

About 314 generic drugs are on the list. See the list HERE.

The problem with this list is many generic drugs covered by insurance have a co-pay of $4 or less. We would imagine most of the drugs on the list, if you ran them through the patient’s insurance, would come up to four dollars or less.

XLPharmacy Canada is still a very good choice for over 1000 medications that somehow just don't show up on Wal-Mart's $4 list.

Drug Costs and Price Comparisons

Consumer Reports did a survey of prices for five common prescription generic drugs and found striking differences at 132 pharmacies across the U.S. For a family paying out-of-pocket for five drugs, the difference between the highest and lowest prices could total nearly $2,200 a year.

There were substantial savings by choosing generic rather than brand-name drugs.You can compare prices at ConsumerReport.org//health. Go to the Medical Guide section, click on Drug Reviews A-Z Index and select a drug. Clicking on the Shop Online symbol ($) for that drug will take you to a secure page listing objective price information from online pharmacies and other retailers.

You can compare prices with Canadian Pharmacies as well. Now that the Federal Government has stopped seizing Uncle Joe’s blood pressure medication at the border. They have handed over the task of safety watch where it belongs, to the FDA.

You can also check online at ConsumerReportsBestBuyDrugs.org to find out whether generics are more cost effective for treating your condition than name brands. But be sure to talk to your doctor and/or pharmacist before switching.

Here is a handy medication list (Med List) and tips you can download for free on using medications wisely from CONSUMER DIRECTORY.

XLPharmacy Canada

Medicaid D - A Closer Look

Medicare Part D – not always the cheapest

An August survey looked at the price of six prescription drugs at 261 pharmacies in South Florida. Those prices were then compared with 44 insurance plans that offer Part D coverage at ''full cost,'' after Medicare patients have used the first $2,250 of their drug benefit and have fell into the so-called doughnut hole.

Here is a quick example, a 30-day supply of the cholesterol drug Lipitor could be purchased at Wal-Mart for $62.85. The lowest out-of-pocket price in the Medicare Part D plans was $67.46, according to the Consumers Union survey. And at XLPharmacy in Canada that same prescription is only $20.00 to $30.00 depending on whether it’s 10 or 20 mg.

There is to be at least eight prescription-drug plans in place in Florida alone in 2007 that provide coverage in the so-called doughnut hole, and the monthly premiums will be between $36.60 to $104.89, according to the Florida Department of Elder Affairs. The average Medicare Part D plan monthly premium in Florida is $24 now.

Your drug costs can go up or down, depending on the plan. Medicare D still needs a lot of work.
And just as a side note here, we found that Big Pharma also complained that Canadian imports aren't inspected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Let’s look at this one for the sake of argument

Among the problems with that argument is that Big Pharma itself imports many of its most lucrative drugs from offshore, low-cost jurisdictions, where manufacturing facilities have sometimes been found by the FDA to be substandard.

Then there is the derogatory report that showed up late last month from a panel of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), which found that the FDA's seal of approval isn't a guarantee of safety in medicine — proof which includes Merck & Co.'s withdrawal of its leading arthritis drug Vioxx after studies showed it doubled the chances for severe heart disease. The FDA's raised questions about the agency's ability to ensure the safety of the U.S.'s drug supply. (read more on how the FDA is now paid a fast-track fee)

XLPharmacy Canada

Flaws in HHS Summation of 2007 Medicaid Premiums

The Department of Health and Human Services released its analysis of 2007 Medicare drug plan premiums on September 29, 2006. The HHS analysis made a number of claims about the drug plans. The most important claim was that for the average senior, drug plan premiums would not increase in 2007.

A letter from Rep. Waxman to HHS Secretary Leavitt explains why the HHS claims are erroneous and requests that HHS immediately revise its estimates of Medicare Part D premiums to reflect the true cost increases senior citizens will face in 2007. Read more about it in Rep Waxman's Letter below:

Read Rep Waxman's Letter Now

XLPharmacy Canada

Men and Women Experience Different Pain

Blue Pills - Pink Pills

Indeed, it does seem kind of weird that genetics or gender could play a role in anything as elemental as being hurt.

But in the last decade or so, psychologists and other pain researchers are coming around to a new definition of just what is pain — and how the experience looks to be different in men and women…(read more)

XLPharmacy Canada

Unconscionable Drug Seizures to Begin With

It is unconscionable that our own federal government had seized more than 37,000 prescriptions intended for Americans who can't afford their medicines.

It really was a senseless policy, a huge special interest favor to the big drug companies, and we am pleased it has been stopped.

Make no mistake, we are quite aware this reversal, has come right before an election, but nonetheless it is good news for consumers in America for those who are desperate for more affordable prescription drugs.

It is clear that the Bush Administration is feeling the pressure from millions of Americans who want access to safe, lower price prescriptions available from Canada.

Even though the Bush Administration has - for now - stopped the drug seizures, the President and his allies in Congress continue to oppose prescription drug reimportation. One can only speculate this is not made up of goodwill that lasts only as long as the cast of a vote come election time.

XLPharmacy Canada

Homeland Security stops all Canadian Drug Seizures

The Department of Homeland Security late yesterday agreed to stop confiscating prescription drugs mailed to American consumers from Canadian pharmacies. For nearly a year, the White House has been punishing seniors for filling their prescriptions at lower Canadian prices. Now it looks like the government is getting out of the business of harassing these consumers.

Word that the administration is ending U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s role in the controversial drug-seizure program came in an e-mail from a Homeland Security official to congressional staff late Monday. Since last November, some 40,000 Americans have had their prescriptions seized by Customs’ agents. It was discovered that federal agents began seizing drugs just two days after enrollment started for the Bush administration’s Medicare Part D program.

Only yesterday - after nearly a year of probing and prodding led in large part by Senator Nelson - Customs said in an e-mail to congressional staff it was halting its involvement in the seizure of Canadian drugs. The decision means the Food and Drug Administration resumes the job of overseeing drug imports from Canada, as it did prior to last November. Nelson said today he still wants the congressional probe by Sen. Collin’s committee to seek answers on why the administration started the medicine seizures in the first place.

Nelson’s previous letter to Sen. Collins seeking an investigation of the government’s program to confiscate consumers’ medicines is attached.

Thank you from Americans everywhere Senator Nelson! To a Senator that doesn't give up!

DHSemail.pdf
pdrugseizureltr.pdf

XLPharmacy Canada

Medicaid D 2007 Plan Not All That Rosy

The fact that there are more plans available, and a shorter period of time to choose from them, just might add to the difficulty and confusion in getting a good plan. It’s still a pretty difficult choice to make.

Even seniors who signed up last year have to decide whether to stay with the plans they have -- which have the option of changing the costs and formulary of the plan. Yet worse - they’re going to have to keep doing this every year.

When the six-week enrollment period for 2007 begins Nov. 15, seniors will have about 50 plans to choose from in every state, from 17 different insurers nationwide that have been contracted to administer the federally financed benefit.

Seniors concerned about the gap in coverage between $2,250 and $5,100 known as the 'doughnut hole' will also have more plans to choose from. Is this good or bad? More plans? How but fewer and less confusing.

For example, there will be 15 or 16 plans in each state that offer full coverage for generic drugs even during the coverage gap, unlike other plans, which require beneficiaries to pay for all of their drug costs during the gap out-of-pocket.

The plans that offer doughnut-hole coverage may also be out of reach for the lower-income individuals who need them the most.

Instead of leaving seniors open to all these problems, wouldn't a better alternative be to offer a Medicare-administered plan that does not have a coverage gap? The low average premium of $24.00 touted by the administration shows that seniors are choosing low-cost plans that may not be meeting their needs. It’s hard to know if a lower-priced option is lower-priced because it’s giving you less of what you want.

Maybe the question we should be asking is, ‘Is this the best program we could have for the massive resources being devoted to it?’

XLPharmacy Canada