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Kmart Expands Generic Rx Discounts to 500 Drugs

Schnucks adds 300 drugs to its St. Louis-area discount program

By Truman Lewis
ConsumerAffairs.com

July 1, 2008

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Kmart says it is expanding its generic prescription drug program to include more than 500 common medications from about 300 and cutting prices for some products. In the St. Louis area, Schnucks supermarkets added more than 300 generics to its discount program.

Kmart said it is offering more than 100 generic antibiotics and cold treatments for $5 a prescription and has lowered the cost of a three-month supply for many drugs to $10 from $15 at its 1,100 pharmacies nationwide.

There are still some generic drugs -- about 130 -- that cost $15 for the 90-day supply, a spokeswoman said.

Kmart said it is also providing about 50 generic drugs for women -- including oral contraceptives, prenatal and osteoporosis medications -- at prices of up to $25 for a 90-day supply.

Schnucks, meanwhile, said it had added more than 300 commonly prescribed generic drugs to its prescription savings program via several new offers, including $4 generics for up to a 30-day supply and $10 for a 90-day supply on medications to treat a variety of ailments including high blood pressure, arthritis, asthma, cholesterol, diabetes and allergies, according to published reports.

"Back in October, Schnucks became the first chain to offer customers a 21-day supply of any one of more than 50 generic oral antibiotics at no charge," said Schnucks vice president of pharmacy Michael Juergensmeyer. "We've been able to significantly strengthen the program by bringing many more medications in through our own distribution center. This has enabled us to cut supply chain costs and pass those savings on to our customers."

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.

Safeway last month began offering $4 prescriptions on hundreds of generic drugs at stores in the eastern United States and parts of the Midwest. 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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