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Replies to post #148545 on Liberal Free Chat Zone (NOLIB)
Reelman
Posted 10/18/2010 9:28 AM (GMT -6)
I realize that this is an old thread but the free drug card programs really are a good money saver and have been around for quite a while. The savings are real. Unfortunately the stigma of FREE tends to make many people disregard them as a scam. If everyone understood how they can be free, I think more people would try them and many would benefit substantially. The cards offered are free because the programs receive money from the pharmacy each time a card is scanned for a prescription. The discount pricing is established by contracts between the PBA that processes insurance cards for pharmacies, the pharmacy, and the drug's manufacturer - based in part on the sales volume that pharmacy generates. It work something like a VISA or Mastercharge in that the pharmacy pays a processing fee for accepting your discount card - you get the discounted pricing and the pharmacy and the PBA and the manufacturer gets your business- if they do not accept the discount card you might shop at a pharmacy that does. In other words, the pharmacy pays a processing fee to get your business and part of that fee goes to the discount card distributor. You get a discount, the pharmacy gets your business and the discount card distributor gets part of the card processing fee - usually from 50 cents to $2.00 per card use. This is a winner for the patient. For more details on how this work you might look a the Q&A on some of the free drug card sites. SuperRxcard.com is one but there are others that have explanations as well. The bottom line is these cards are not a scam even though they are given away free. You might google one of the sites to see what people are saying about them if you are sceptical. They are definitely misunderstood and being free is part of the problem. some sites have taken to charging a membership fee just to overcome the stigma.
