Boycott CVS / Target Pharmacies....No longer have the $4.00 medication plan

[Boxerfan]

My old pill price for this particular generic prescription was $4.00.

I just tried to get my refill-and was quoted $108.00???

Seems they do not honor the generic pricing anymore. Great I said-I won't use your Pharmacy again.

WTF is the deal when Target / CVS refuse to honor discount pricing for generic medications.

Boycott is all I can do....

Please join me.

[tonyt53]

1. Was the med reclassified from formulary to non-formulary?

The generic version could have been sold to another company and they raised the price also.

[CountAllVotes]

2. I am required to use them

I hate them. I hate them. I hate them.

However, on a positive note, my Union renegotiated my health plan and gee, they left CVS out of the plan. We'll have a new one come Jan. 1, 2017 thank god for that.

They opened a store in the small town I live in recently. It took an old mom and pop store that had been there for probably 30+ years out of business. No one ever goes into the CVS store except to buy drugs and nothing else.

So the boycott has been going on where I live ever since they opened that store and I'll be free of them too soon.

Best of luck getting the word out on this!

Thank you!!

[chillfactor]

3. I would boycott them....

but I never shop at either of them...sorry

[Warpy]

4. Greed has invaded the generic drug industry

so I imagine the program's days are numbered at Costco and Wally, also.

That means we're going to have to await the pleasure of Congress to act to curb runaway drug prices.

[Igel]

5. Don't know enough.

If it's really generic, the pricing is what it is.

Don't need "seems" and speculation. Something changed. Find out what it is. Perhaps doc prescribed brand-name and they wouldn't substitute. Perhaps it's no longer owned by same company. Perhaps the terms of your insurance changed. Or it was a day or two shy of when you could refill.

Lots of possible causes. Don't know enough.

[Boxerfan]

6. CVS corporate decision....Formula etc... identical.

And from what the interwebs say they are hell to work for. I'm amazed Target signed a long term deal with them-this is a result of the change.

Greed plain & simple. Hoping the next store honors the discount price I'll find out soon enough.

[DesMoinesDem]

7. Why do you think this deserves a boycott?

The price went up. So go somewhere else. If I boycotted every place that didn't have the lowest price for every product, including products I don't use in this case, I wouldn't be able to shop anywhere. Check out http://www.goodrx.com/ to see if the drug is cheaper elsewhere.

[Boxerfan]

11. Because it is wrong....Isn't that reason enough??.

And my wife will no longer get her meds there. Of course there are other choices. For me...

Some people don't have the ability to drive to another store etc...

Corporate greed should be called out for what it is. And this decision WILL kill somebody-because they could not afford the needed medication. Guaranteed....

[DesMoinesDem]

16. No, increasing the cost of a product isn't wrong.

And it comes nowhere close to warrenting a boycott.

[Ms. Toad]

8. There is not really such thing as "honoring" discount pricing for generic medications

Generic prices are whatever is charged by the manufacture who produces the product, plus a store mark-up to cover profit + expenses.

Certain pharmacies (Target being one of them) used to have a special program: a list of generic drugs that they chose to offer as $4 (and $10) prescriptions - but it was their choice to offer the (often) deeply discounted prescriptions - typically as loss-leaders. Same thing with the free diabetes medications offered by Giant Eagle, among others, for a number of years. It was a store program - not honoring prices set by someone else. They lost money on those programs, if you only take into account what they made on the sale of those drugs. Their hope was (1) get you into the store and make money off of your purchases that you made there because you were in the store or (2) convince you to bring your other (more profitable) prescriptions over for the convenience of keeping all of your own prescriptions in the same place.

It was a nice program while it lasted, as was the free diabetes meds from Giant Eagle. But discontinuing a program that they were offering at a loss, to start out with, is not a reason to boycott them once they discontinue it. The phase-out a Target is because Target pharmacies are now CVS pharmacies & I don't believe CVS ever had a $4/$10 list of meds.

Try goodrx.com (generally to find discounts on drug stores). You may be able to find a local place that offers the medication at a price closer to what you were paying. If you can stomach Walmart, they apparently still run a $4/$10 program. In my area, Giant Eagle still offers a similar program. Also check: Kmart, Walgreens, and national grocers such as Kroger.

[tonyt53]

10. Good explanation, and likely the reason for the increase.

[Yo_Mama]

13. Thank you for posting such very helpful information. n/t

[Boxerfan]

14. Crux of the biscuit right here...Greed.

"The phase-out a Target is because Target pharmacies are now CVS pharmacies & I don't believe CVS ever had a $4/$10 list of meds. "

CVS is the devil in the details...As is Targets choice to bed with them+ reason for a boycott if I ever heard one-thanks for the reason.

[Ms. Toad]

15. Terminating the program wouldn't be a reason for me to boycott Target or CVS.

They'd have to do something considerably more egregious than discontinue a program that was likely losing them money in the first place.

It would be a reason for me to go price shopping - I'm all about saving money - even when a store is silly enough to offer a below-cost item in the (mostly vain) hope that I'll spend more money on something else.

I'd buy at Target/CVS if the item was cheaper there - and elsewhere if it wasn't. We have prescriptions at 4 different locations partly for that reason. One is to support a mom & pop store (with limited hours) with our short term needs; one is a chain pharmacy with extended hours when mom & pop aren't open for our short-term needs; a third is for 90-day prescriptions (because we get two months for the price of 3 by mail order). The 4th is for one where the free/$4/$10 cash prices are lower than the insurance copays.

[No Vested Interest]

9. One has to wonder if Mr. Shkreli, of drug price raising fame, is involved here.