How’s that “health care” “system” working out for you?

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Suppose there was a company out there that provided no real services but did manage to grow its profits at two times the rate of other industry companies.  And suppose that company just ended a contract relationship that benefitted many regular (e.g., you) people despite the fact that it achieved no cost savings from ending that contract.

And suppose that by ending that contract, that company ended up making it harder and more costly for you to get your prescription medications?

You’d hate that company, wouldn’t you? I imagine that’s how many people will be feeling about “Express Scripts,” a middleman company that just ended its contracts with Walgreen’s drugstores in the latest round of goings-on between  Walgreens and Express Script. “Express Scripts,” as I understand it, contracted with health insurance plans and then contracted with drugstores, so that when members went to the drug store, they wouldn’t pay the drug store but would pay Express Scripts.  Express Scripts and Walgreen’s were recently negotiating a new contract, and Walgreen’s was offering to keep its rates of payment the same, but Express Scripts wanted them to reduce their rates below industry standard, and Express Scripts wanted to be able to define for itself what was or was not a “generic” vs. “brand name” drug.

The end result: You get hurt, and our military gets hurt. 

Oh, that latter one? Express Scripts has a client “Tricare,” which provides health insurance to military families. Walgreen’s offered to have its prices match or beat the prices of any other drug store, so that military families were guaranteed the lowest prices for prescriptions. Express Scripts said no.

So a company which has seen its profits increase at double the industry rate just decided that’s not enough and ended up making families travel farther to get their prescriptions, or pay more to get them.  Seem fair?

I’m on Walgreen’s side in this one. People shouldn’t have to pay too much for prescriptions, and local drugstores provide familiarity so that the pharmacist can do more than simply dispense drugs anonymously, like Express Scripts wants.  Now customers have to find new places to get their medications, and the people they’re dealing with don’t know them.  

Walgreen’s is helping out.  They’re giving a break on enrollment in their Walgreens Prescription Savings Club, so for January you can join for just $10 (or $5 a person) to get discounts on your prescriptions:

http://www.walgreens.com/pharmacy/psc/psc_overview_page.jsp

And they still have their usual savings on 8,000 different brand-name medications, low prices on generics, and discounts on flu shots, pet scripts, nebulizers and other things. Plus, if you join that club, you’ll get bonuses for using other Walgreen’s services, like photofinishing, so you can continue to save on medications and still do one-stop shopping at your local pharmacy.

It’s time to pick sides in this fight. With all the many troubles in the health care industry, we didn’t need Express Scripts making things worse.  Stick up for Walgreen’s: Like Walgreens on Facebook and follow  Walgreens on Twitter (@Walgreens), and help make things better.