Wal-Mart's shockingly cheap drug plan
The retailer partners with Humana to beat out other plans for Medicare recipients.
Wal-Mart (WMT) upended the drug industry in 2006 by offering $4 generic drugs. Now the retailing giant is at it again, unveiling the cheapest prescription drug plan in the country.
Wal-Mart has partnered with health insurance company Humana (HUM) and will offer the plan to people on Medicare, Bloomberg reports. Starting Jan. 1, the plan will cost only $14.80 a month -- less than half the average Medicare premium for prescription drugs.
It's a win-win for both companies. Humana wants to boost its market share and hopes Wal-Mart will bring in enough business to keep its drug plans profitable. Wal-Mart wants more people to visit its pharmacies instead of Walgreens (WAG) or CVSCaremark (CVS).
The companies said the typical Medicare prescription-drug customer could save $450 a year with the new plan, which also has lower copayments and cost shares, according to Dow Jones Newswires. At specific pharmacies -- such as, oh, say, Wal-Mart's -- the copayment could be as low as $2 for generic drugs. Humana's mail-order service will have zero copay.
Already analysts predict a price war as other retailers and drugstores scramble to match Wal-Mart's pricing. "We would not be surprised if rival insurers form joint plans with other pharmacy chains," said Standard & Poor's analyst Phillip Seligman, according to Dow Jones.
People can enroll in the new plan from Nov. 15 through the end of the year. Click here for more information.
Post continues after video:
Wal-Mart wouldn't say how many pharmacy customers it hopes to add.
About 18 million Medicare beneficiaries have signed up for prescription-drug-only plans, Reuters reported.
More from MSN Top Stocks:
| Tags: | healthKim Peterson |
For you people who squawk about how long it takes to get a prescription filled, have you ever considered dropping it off and looking for some other household bargains while you wait. It may benefit Wal Mart, true, but it may benefit you as well, instead of sitting waiting wringing your hands and getting all riled up. The stroll through the store will do good for you health and you would be surprised how quickly 30 minutes will fly by. Take a break. You will save money and enjoy life more.
This is Back to the Future all over again! Those crooks at Humana and Wal-Mart are setting up another bait-and-switch scheme.
According to the Boston Globe, Humana burst onto the Medicare marketplace in 2006 with low‐cost Part D plans only to raise premiums as much as 466 percent one year later. “Insurer hits millions of seniors with drug cost hike,” Boston Globe, 12/31/06
“Steve Findlay, a healthcare analyst with Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, called Humana's price increases a ‘bait and switch’ tactic. ‘That's not an acceptable inflationary increase in prices," he said. "That's sucker them in and you just start raising the prices.”
Join up and I’d bet you’ll be a lot poorer in a few years!
After I found out that Wally World takes out mortality insurence on their employees that families never see a dime of I don't think I like Wal-mart very much anymore.
You realize that wal-mart is subject to the same FDA and state board regulations as other pharmacies. Which means the quality of the drugs is the same. They use the same wholesalers that other companies use (Cardinal, McKesson, Amerisource Bergan). They make money by getting people in the store for a prescription and they buy stuff while they wait.
You are an ignorant person if you believe otherwise
MORE ON MSN MONEY
DATA PROVIDERS
Copyright © 2013 Microsoft. All rights reserved.
Quotes are real-time for NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX. See delay times for other exchanges.
Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Thomson Reuters (click for restrictions). Real-time quotes provided by BATS Exchange. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Interactive Data Real-Time Services. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by SIX Financial Information.
Japanese stock price data provided by Nomura Research Institute Ltd.; quotes delayed 20 minutes. Canadian fund data provided by CANNEX Financial Exchanges Ltd.
STOCK SCOUTER
StockScouter rates stocks from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, using a system of advanced mathematics to determine a stock's expected risk and return. Ratings are displayed on a bell curve, meaning there will be fewer ratings of 1 and 10 and far more of 4 through 7.
131 | 262 | 443 | 602 | 719 | 586 | 611 | 456 | 279 | 123 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
LATEST POSTS
S&P's top-ranked analysts share their latest stock recommendations.
FIDELITY VIEWPOINTS
- How to sell covered calls - Fidelity Investments
- Savvy year-end tax moves to consider now - Fidelity Investments
- Seven ways to prepare for tax changes
- Five reasons an annual review is crucial - Fidelity Investments
- Take a look at mid caps now - Fidelity Investments
- State of the sector: Health care - Fidelity Investments
VIDEO ON MSN MONEY
ABOUT
Top Stocks provides analysis about the most noteworthy stocks in the market each day, combining some of the best content from around the MSN Money site and the rest of the Web.
Contributors include professional investors and journalists affiliated with MSN Money.
Follow us on Twitter @topstocksmsn.