A Prescription Drug Gimmick
Anybody have any experience with any of these prescription drug discount cards?
I received a card from that outfit with my mortgage statement the other day. Did GMAC ever send out advertisements? I don't know as I did all my business with them online the last few years. Green Tree apparently does and I'm not sure whether I trust Green Tree to begin with.
Supposedly using the card saves you a bunch of money on prescriptions. This one actually lists Rite- Aid as a store that accepts them. That's where I go so was thinking of giving it a try. I'm just wondering if there's any downside to it? Why would they give me this free discount card unless they're getting something out of it?
I received a similar one from a friend a couple years ago. I tried using it at the old Henderson Center Pharmacy. The folks there said they didn't know anything about the card as it wasn't registered with them so I couldn't see if it worked or there was any down side to using it.
Just wondering if anyone tried using one and regretted it later?
posted by Fred Mangels @ 8:04 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
There cards r for people switching pharmacies, and r horrible. It makes it easier for a mistake to happen with ur prescription and is an all around hassle. What ever happened to customer loyalty
I don't think that's what this one is for. It doesn't say anything about switching pharmacies, but lists a number of large chain pharmacies like Walgreens, CVS and such that accept them.
Best I can figure is it's a gimmick- maybe by pharma companies- to give you discounts, but the discounts are for brand name drugs as opposed to generic. So, you probably go in there and order a refill for a generic. They tell you it won't work for that but they have an equivalent brand name drug that they can sell you instead. Problem is, the brand name drug might cost more than the generic even with the discount.
That's just my guess. The problem with my guess is why would they try something like that when most people probably already buy the brand name drugs? If most used generic, it might make sense.
I suppose it won't do any harm to ask the pharmacist at Rite- Aid how it works, assuming he knows anything about it.
Fred you hit that nail pretty Square on the head and I also add that these cards will be used for advertising purposes. this is also probably a convenient way to circumvent doctor client confidentiality? so that the pharmaceutical companies and the federal government know what kind of med you're on.
An attachment to the card says, in fine print, "By responding, you may be disclosing certain categories of non- public information about yourself".
......An attachment to the card says, in fine print, "By responding, you may be disclosing certain categories of non- public information about yourself"........
Based on mail survey data, I'd suspect that only 2 percent of the participants would read that fine print disclosure.
Pretty slick way of big pharma in getting marketing data.
"Henchman Of Justice" says,
all cards are gimmicks to "camoflage over-the-fact" that businesses are "over-charging" the customer base to begin with, only to spend some more money to print-out cards to spend more money to mail to customers just to tell them they can save by using the card....
Seems more straightforward just to sell any goods or services at the lowest possible prices, as opposed to creating shams that force customers to over-pay, but gives the over-paying customer an option to save later or recoup the over-payment later.
American Government allows this bullshit in American business operations. Why? Not everyone recoups there overpayments or even cares....this means more profit which means more collected taxes for a government that whines it don't have enough money to spend already.
Business schemes suck wads. - HOJ
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