What to Know About Prescription Drug Costs

December 15, 2022

Dr. Jerry Williams of Urgent Care 24/7 discusses a pretty hot topic, prescription drug costs.

What a mess we're in, it's just a mess. And I wanted to just take a little poll on costs. Dr. Williams called a couple of major chain pharmacies, and to get a price on levofloxacin 750 milligrams, which is a strong antibiotic, one would normally take a 750 milligram pill one time a day for seven days, for example. Which is a drug that we could just, we could just do as a trial.

He called Walgreens and said, "You know, how much is levofloxacin 750 milligrams cache price? $197.79." Wow. So then he called CVS and said, "CVS, how much is levofloxacin? 750 milligrams, seven days supply seven pills. $186." Wow. Are you shocked? Dr. Williams was shocked. These are pills that are probably costing CVS and Walgreens? I don't know. 10 cents, 25 cents a pill? 50 cents a pill maybe? Certainly no way. They're paying more than 75 cents a pill.

Okay, so they're paying 75 cents a pill. You have to understand Walgreens CVS literally buys this stuff by the truckload. So if they're buying it, it's $5.25 worth of medicine if they're paying 75 cents a pill.

So for $5.25 in cost of medication, plus they have the expense of the building and insurance. They have to pay the pharmacist to fill the prescription for you, but still $197.79, really, Walgreens, really? And CVS $186. Really? Maybe CVS spent too much money buying Aetna insurance health insurance company. So now they're passing on the cost to their pharmacy customers.

Anyway, it just doesn't make any sense to Dr. Williams, he smells a rat.

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