First Wal-Mart announced it would slash prescription drug prices on 124 generic drugs, charging only $4 for both the insured and uninsured. They are rolling the program out in Tampa, Florida with the intention of phasing it into all Wal-Mart stores in Florida.

Now the department store chain Target, has announced it will match Wal-Mart’s $4 rate in the Tampa area.

Wal-Mart plans to add more drugs to the $4 price list, about 300 generic drugs in all. If the program proves successful, they will extend the plan to other parts of the US.

Target Matches Wal-Mart’s $4 Generic RX Price.

Also see related article in Fifty-Something Women.

The FDA has issued a warning to consumers not to buy prescription drugs online from certain Canadian websites that have orders filled by Mediplan Prescription Plus Pharmacy or Mediplan Global Health in Manitoba, Canada. This follows reports of counterfeit drug products being sold by these companies to US consumers.

Testing is ongoing but inital lab results have found counterfeits of the following drugs from these websites:

Lipitor
Diovan
Actonel
Nexium
Hyzaar
Ezetrol (Zetia)
Crestor
Celebrex
Arimidex
Propecia

The FDA warns that if consumers have purchased these prescription drugs online through these websites, they should not take them as they may be unsafe. The following websites are involved:

* www.RxNorth.com;
* www.Canadiandrugstore.com;
* www.Rxbyfax.com;
* www.Northcountryrx.com;
* www.Canada-pharmacy.com;
* www.My-canada-pharmacy.com;
* www.NLRX.com;
* www.Canampharmacy.com;
* www.Canada-Meds-For-Less.net; and
* www.Canadian-safe.com

The FDA cautions consumers purchasing medical supplies online. Although a website may look legitimate, the products it supplies may come from unreliable sources.

A research team, led by Daniel L. McFadden, Ph.D., of the University of California, Berkeley, and a Nobel Laureate in Economics, interviewed Medicare-eligible persons age 65 or older about the new Medicare Part D prescription drug program. The interviews were conducted just prior to the start of open enrollment in November and then again in May and June, after the open enrollment period closed. The results, to be published in Health Affairs show that the target goal of having 90% of persons age 65 and older enrolled in Medicare’s prescription drug coverage has been met. However, they found that there were groups of eligible persons who did not enroll, even though it would be in their best interest to do so.

Therefore, the authors note, a significant number of older people who might benefit from enrollment remain uncovered, and further educating these groups that the Part D program is in their self-interest should continue to be a health policy priority. A notable proportion of the seniors surveyed said they were less satisfied with Medicare and the government overall as a result of their experience with the program.

Seniors are seeing prescription drug prices steadily increasing. Many are finding that the drugs they take are going up in price by as much as ten percent over the prices they have been used to paying. A report issued by the AARP in March shows drug prices rising at triple the rate of inflation. Lipitor, a commonly prescribed drug, has gone up by 6.5 percent since January per reports.

Most seniors in the Medicare drug program are protected from rising drug prices by their plan but some are concerned that, if the prices keep on rising, they will fall into the category that pushes them over the limit of their coverage and they may end up paying full retail cost, or that their premiums will increase as the prices for their medications increase.

Pharmaceutical companies claim that prescription drug prices are in line with the costs of all other medical services. The government believes that seniors enrolled in plans are protected from rising drug prices. But seniors are not feeling comforted by these reassurances and if higher premiums result from higher drug prices, more seniors may drop out of the Medicare plan which could cause premiums to go even higher.