To learn more about the Consumer Reports investigation, check out the May issue or go to ConsumerReports. Home Health. Best Credit Card Welcome Bonuses for - If you're in the market for a new credit card, you may be hoping to cash in on the hundreds of dollars in signup bonuses offered to new customers. Welcome bonuses and offers are a marketing tool that credit card….
In a recent CR survey, only 22 percent of current prescription drug takers who had paid more for their medication in the previous year said they comparison shopped for a better deal. By calling around and asking a lot of questions, our secret shoppers also identified several strategies that may help lower your drug costs. Those questions included whether retailers would honor discounts found online generally, yes and match the lowest retail prices offered by nearby competitors usually not.
CR staff also went to pharmacies in New York state to fill prescriptions and gain more insight about the in-store experience. We learned that it pays to do some research ahead of time, and when appropriate, ask some very direct questions of the pharmacist. Step 1: Find and use online discounts. They will ask for the name of the drug, the dose, the number of pills, and where you live.
Then they will show what you can expect to pay at various pharmacies if you use their discount coupons or vouchers, which you can print out or download to your phone to show a pharmacist. Step 2: Widen your scope of where to shop for drugs. Also consider independent and grocery-store pharmacies. Prescription drug prices do vary greatly there, with some being very expensive.
But the absolute lowest prices we found in each city we called were almost always at these kinds of stores. Step 3: Ask a pharmacy directly whether it will honor discount online coupons. Our shoppers learned that pharmacies will almost always honor them—but you may need to be persistent. Pharmacists tend to run prescriptions through insurance automatically, even when paying the retail cash price and using discount coupons would cost less.
Third-party online discount coupons tend to be even deeper and more attractive. None of the stores our secret shoppers contacted agreed to do that. Once you settle on a pharmacy that consistently offers good deals on medication, fill all your prescriptions there. That makes it easier for pharmacists to spot potentially dangerous interactions and other safety concerns. But if you find that your drug costs start rising noticeably, it may be time to start the process all over again and find another primary retailer.
This article and related materials are made possible by a grant from the state Attorney General Consumer and Prescriber Education Grant Program, which is funded by the multistate settlement of consumer-fraud claims regarding the marketing of the prescription drug Neurontin gabapentin.
Note that this story was updated to include an explanation for why the total prices in the chart don't always add up. As a dorky kid, I spent many a Saturday at the Bloomington, Ind. Now, as a much bigger kid, that's still my job! Identifying products and services, especially in healthcare, that are safe, effective, and affordable—and highlighting those that aren't—is my top concern.
Rite Aid now has about 2, stores and scarcely registers on the health-clinic scale, with a limited number of RediClinics in just a few states. However, a new initiative in select stores would experiment with introducing RediClinic Express kiosks, which would offer virtual care services using diagnostic testing equipment and live-video interactions with clinicians. Drive-thru or curbside prescription pickup has become another common perk and was a feature at every local store we visited except Walmart.
Target has expanded its popular Drive Up option to all 50 states although not every store. Time-pressed customers can place orders through the Target app and have employees bring the merchandise out to their cars upon arrival.
Pharmacy-related benefits are similar everywhere we looked, but other services and types of merchandise vary in availability and convenience. At the drugstores, photo services, movie rental machines, ATMs, and a small selection of grocery items are available.
Still, drugstore chains don't offer the sheer range of products to be found at Kroger, Walmart, and Target. The mass merchants are one-stop shops. One disadvantage of turning to a mass-merchant or grocery-store pharmacy is that the closest employee available to assist you isn't necessarily assigned to the pharmacy. At Walmart, for example, we had trouble locating an item, and the first employee we spotted worked in another department.
She was kind enough to locate a pharmacy employee, but that extra step took valuable time. During our visits to stand-alone pharmacies, we were approached almost immediately upon entering. But at Kroger, Target, and Walmart we had to seek out assistance, and the only pharmacy employees we saw were behind the counter.
Although easy to spot, they were less accessible than those at the drugstores. In a recent survey of customer satisfaction by J. Walmart fared the worst. Stand-alone CVS pharmacies and Walgreens scored slightly below average among chain drugstore pharmacies, while Rite Aid came in third, just behind two networks of independent pharmacies, Good Neighbor Pharmacy and Health Mart.
The dominance of the independent pharmacies, however, was not surprising: In-depth and personalized service underpins their popularity. Consumer Reports found the same when surveying shoppers. Most stores note that they cannot accept the return of prescription medications by law.
Cosmetics, over-the-counter medications, and health and beauty items may or may not be returnable. Walgreens is by far the stingiest of the three drugstore chains, offering just 30 days. Target and Walmart both offer 90 days, and Target extends that window to days for Target REDcard shoppers and up to a year for all Target-brand products. A Kroger associate confirmed that stores have wide latitude over when and whether to accept returns.
Takeaway: Walmart 's reputation for low prices is reinforced at its pharmacies. Convenience is a factor too — you can shop for just about anything else you need while you wait. Takeaway: Although CVS is one of the more expensive options, other benefits potentially help balance out higher prices. Savvy shoppers can save big with an ExtraCare card and by choosing store brands. The sheer number of CVS pharmacies means you'll rarely have to go out of your way, and the chain offers many convenient in-store health clinics.
Still, it beats stand-alone pharmacies handily and offered the second-lowest prices in our survey of generic prescription drugs and vaccinations. Also, filling prescriptions during a grocery-shopping trip is undeniably convenient. While Target can't match competitor Walmart toe-to-toe on cost, the store has its own cult following and earns much higher marks for customer satisfaction.
Takeaway: Like CVS, Walgreens partially makes up for its higher prices in convenience, as well as prescription savings and rewards points programs.
Although the brand will be closing a number of stores, locations are still ubiquitous and customers appreciate the wide selection and cheap store-brand options. Also, compared to the other drugstore chains, Walgreens has reasonable prices on over-the-counter medications and personal care and beauty items. Our experience was marred by high prices nearly across the board, limited selection on many products, and a poorly lit, haphazardly organized store that seemed stuck in a time warp.
The chain also doesn't offer as many locations as its rivals. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission to support our work. Learn more. Cheapism may earn a commission if you buy through a link on our site. Sign up for our newsletter. Walgreens vs. CVS and More. Saundra Latham October 29, Drugstore Chains vs.
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