$4 Meds

[King Rat]

Wal-mart is now selling generic meds for $4. And they say they are still making a profit. That says something about the markup on drugs.

According to WTVA last night, this is going to save the state of MS millions of dollars a year on drugs medicare/medicaid is paying for.

Which brings up a point: Should all those people on medicare and medicaid be forced to use generic meds? I mean, just because they aren't paying for the medicine shouldn't mean they can't have the high-dollar stuff does it? So, in a way, Wal-mart - that evil corporation libs are sworn to destroy - is once again ruining this country by giving states an incentive to force poor people to use generic drugs.

I use generic drugs whenever I can because my co-pay is cheaper but I'm one of those evil people who work for a living and make a decent income.

Will Councilwoman Deas lead the Tupelo City Council to protect the elderly, the single mothers, the children, and the downtrodden from Wal-mart?

[granny2young]

Medicare/Medicaid patients are ALWAYS given generic drugs when they are available, unless their dr directs otherwise.

[TF Admin]

Walmart West Main has a table setup right at the front door! I think this is awesome! I'm not a big fan of Walmart, but this program is really awesome.

TF

[rutrow]

You know, drugs are fine and dandy when there are no other options to return someone to health. But I noticed good nutrition is being downplayed and pharmaceuticals placed in the forefront to cure whatever ails you.

The american diet is so full of hydrogenated oils. It is these oils that are the cause of heart disease and not butter, milk, and other foods which our forefathers ate and lived to a ripe old age. My spouse's family lived in their 90's and 100's. They ate pork sausage, fried their own fish and chickens with pure lard, ( the lard you buy in the store is partially hydrogenated), ate yard eggs which are highly nutritious as chickens automatically know what their bodies need to consume to stay healthy. The milk from the family cow is much purer than big dairy farms as they didn't feed their cows antibiotic-laden feed. They grew their own corn and hay and stored it in their barns to feed their animals. Tomatoes had a much richer taste because the family garden waited until they ripened on the vine before they are picked. That allowed the plant to absorb all the important minerals and enzymes from the ground. The junk they import into the stores are picked way before the plant has time to absorb these minerals. Americans are a nutrient deficient people because of our food supply from big grocers like wally world.

How many times did you buy a watermelon or cantalope in the big chain stores that looked ripe, but when you cut into them, there was no real taste?

Rice and flour are bleached and the bran cut away from them depriving us of important fiber and B vitamins needed to make our bodies function properly. In fact, I read somewhere where the chemical used to bleach flour white is called alloxin (sp?) and alloxin supposedly destroys the pancreas ability to secrete insulin. Could this be one reason why diabetes is considered epidemic?

Remember when fruits and veggies used to be cheap and so in abundance, (if you are old enough) and now everything is sold by the pound, enabling you to only buy so much of some fresh fruits and veggies? And the nutrients in these are compromised as explained above.
As with anything you consume, it should be in moderation.



;D Ok, sorry for the rant. I feel better now. ;D

[darkhorse]

I realize this changes the subject a little. But, my family will not be benifiting from this since we are not shopping at Wal-Mart anymore. Since we learned Wal-Mart joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce we have done our shopping elsewhere. I believe they are trying to keep this quiet. They have a lot less to say about it than a lot of there more popular endeavors.

Anyway, my rant was shorter than Rutrow's.

Oh here the link to Wal-Mart fact sheet on this.

www.walmartfacts.com/articles/4428.aspx

If the link doesn't work you can go to walmart.com, click on walmart fact sheets and search for it.

[rutrow]

I took my prescriptions to a local pharmacy. Costs just slightly a bit more, but at least I get good service and good advice. The experience I had at wally world was deadpan pharmacists with attitude problems. (again, not all) but when the manager of the pharmacy has a rotten attitude, then the employees under him/her reflect the same.

Wally world is not the lowest price either, no matter what they say. They just move the prices around. Lower some here, raise some there.

[granny2young]

I have to agree. My local hometown pharmacist has saved me many dollars in advice and care. When my blood pressure is up, I go up there and he checks it for me. I had a bad rash one time; went to the pharmacist and he gave me some steroid cream that cleared it up. I am not stupid, I do not substitute his expertice for medical care, but I do seek him first on minor things and he has saved me a trip to the doctor. I don't think my meds are any less expensive there than anywhere else when compared to he fills my meds in minutes, i never have to wait and I get personal attention. If I am really sick, all I have to do is call him and he will bring my meds to the house. Try that with wally world.

[rutrow]

Granny, we must have the same pharmacist? ;D Probably not but I have to agree that we are not stupid in that we seek advice from our pharmacist. I remember once years ago when I took my little one to the doctor and the doctor said there was nothing he could do for this particular ailment. Not so, said the pharmacist I went to at the time. He whipped out an old fashion and legal over the counter remedy and it did wonders, even healed the situation. If I hadn't asked the baby would have suffered needlessly for many days. Those pharmacists at wally world would have been too scared for their jobs to offer any advice such as this one. I will never go back to wally world for medications. In fact, my spending habits have become severely limited in their store and I only get certain things there now and no more.

[King Rat]

On the flip side, my stepkids (twins who were a few months old) almost died several years ago because a "local" pharmacist (not in the is part of the state) mistakenly gave them the wrong meds then, for whatever selfish reason, refused to admit his mistake. The only thing that saved the kids was that the pharmacist's assistant stood up in church and asked the congregation to pray for two kids who were dying because her boss gave them the wrong meds and refused to tell the doctors. My wife's aunt just happened to be in the congregation and rushed out to call my wife at the hospital. The doctors contacted the pharmacist and he admitted his mistake and told them what he had mistakenly given them. Knowing this, the doctors quickly counteracted the meds and the kids were soon home again.

All of this was long before I met my wife but she tells me that my stepson's heart stopped multiple times and the doctors had all but given up hope.

My point is NOT to say this in any way is a reflection on local pharmacists. It is simply to demonstrate that they are not necessarily better than those at Wal-mart. Your Wal-mart pharmacist isn't brought in each morning on a plane then wisked away after his shift is up. He/she is a member of the community, too, and is most likely every bit as diligent as those who own their own business.

I use Wal-mart and have on multiple occassions had the pharmacist come over and explain things about the meds. Once he even suggested I confirm the dosage with the doctor because it didn't seem normal to him.

[rutrow]

Oh my. My comments about wally world pharmacists was not meant to be taken that they are all rotten. I don't think you took it that way either but somebody who uses them might so I best clarify. I am sure that there are good conscientious men and women working there, and that there are satisfied people using them. But, they have a set of rules that they must go by, not being able to use their best judgment on other remedies. After all, look at who is paying them.

The one I had had a rotten attitude. He did not want to answer my questions, nor go out of the way to help me, and he was in a managerial position, suppose to set an example. However, words were exchanged between us and he actually said that he did not care if I moved my prescriptions elsewhere. A little kindness, patience, and a helpful attitude goes a long way to a sick person. The problem really was with HIM. But since he worked at Wal-Mart, his actions reflected upon Wal-Mart. This was just the straw that broke the camels back with years of attitudes and indifference coming from employees for me.

Certainly, people ought to be able to trust their pharmacist like their doctor. If someone does find a good one, whether they are at wally world or at a private business, they should be comfortable. I just happened to find a pharmacists willing to take the time to discuss things with me, answer questions, and find things that help my situations. I did not get that at Wally world for myself.

I am so glad that God caused that young man to ask for prayer and that God placed the right person in that church to hear that prayer so that they could squeeze the truth out of that pharmacist. There is something fundamentally wrong with the pharmacist's character if he was willing to let 2 precious children die to save his reputation as a pharmacist. Terrible lack of integrity and spiritually. Mistakes happen but they must be corrected before it ever gets that far affecting a human being. His actions were criminal.

[bigboy]

cpurdon said:

I use generic drugs whenever I can because my co-pay is cheaper but I'm one of those evil people who work for a living and make a decent income.

KR....I'm one of those evil OLD people that doesn't work anymore....LOL I managed to change all my meds over to generic except one. I get monitored pretty regularily by Cardiology and other doctors, and see no change in my BP or or other stats using the generics. I changed to all the generics I could because I have a Medicare Part D drug insurance policy now and my co-pay is $0 on generics. In one case, I take a med strength of 420 mg. There is generic for the med, but no generic for that strength, so my doctor wrote me two prescriptions.... (1) generic 180 mg and (1) 240 mg and now my cost on that is $0, as opposed to approx. $80 for the name brand.