Drug Prices
Why does Walgreens charge 1,237% more than Costco?
That is the headline clickbait but you can read the whole article in USA Today . Do you want the answer? Because they can. Want to fix it? Shop somewhere else. Walgreens will lose business and will then have to bring their prices down.
That is called the free market.
And that is how we can fix our healthcare system.
(If you read the article you will see how “confused” the author is about how each insurance company negotiates the price down for drugs making the cash price basically just window dressing. Once again, another reason why the system is broken and why insurers need to be removed from most of it. Let the people negotiate. We don’t need big brother doing it for us).
As a former Pharmacist, now a Pediatrician I know why there are such high prices in stores that take Medicaid (and probably Medicare Part D – I wasn’t in pharmacy when it started).
Medicaid audited your records frequently and if they find you charged a cash patient less than you charged Medicaid they would crucify you with penalties and cut your reimbursement across the board. You were screwed!