Solve your Express Script worries with Walgreens Prescription Savings Club

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Where do you go to get your prescriptions filled?  If you have trusted Walgreens pharmacists and enjoyed their knowledgeable pharmacists along with their convenient 24-hour drive-through services, you’ll want to listen up!  This could change the way you get your prescriptions filled.

Check the back of your insurance prescription card.  Do you see the words: “Express Script” listed?  If so, you are affected.

Are you a member of the military and receive your prescriptions through Tricare?  You are affected.

Here’s how the relationship between Walgreens and Express Script works:

Express Script steps in as a “middleman” between pharmacies and employers when it comes time to fill a prescription.  Recently, Express Script has pulled the rug out from underneath their Walgreens pharmacy providers.  These changes have allowed Express Script to continue to profit at a rate more than two times the average – and, faster than the provider of this service, causing an in-balance to this health care system.  Walgreens has been undergoing contract negotiation talks to remedy this problem, but have faced an unwilling-to-budge Express Script.

The result is that Walgreens customers who are part of the Express Script system are forced to go out of their way to get their prescriptions filled without any savings to them.

Here’s the brief history:

Walgreens has been unsuccessfully negotiating with Express Script for the past year to come up with a new contract that would allow them to continue as a member of its pharmacy provider network.

As of January 1, 2012; Walgreens nationwide (and Duane Reade pharmacies in New York City area) is no longer a part of Express Script’s pharmacy provider network.

What has Walgreens done for their customers?

Walgreens has made every effort to keep your prices low without prescription service interruption.

Without Walgreens’ services, prices may go up (because Walgreens offers less expensive generic drug refills) and the way you receive your 3-month supply of medication would become a hassle (receiving three 30-day refills as opposed to one bulk 90-day supply). 

During contract negotiations, Walgreens offered to hold rates for military members of Tricare and other customers.  This was not met with a positive reaction from Express Script who insists on being able to define terms such as what drugs constitute a brand or generic drug.  Express Script also wanted to slash Walgreens reimbursement rates to levels far below the industry average.

Walgreens wants to ease your burden.  What is Walgreens offering you as a solution to this Express Script's mess?

Walgreens is offering a special savings plan to help minimize your disruption in receiving the trusted services you are accustomed to:

For the month of January, Walgreens is offering an annual membership for its Walgreens Prescription Savings Club – Individuals can join for $5 and a family for $10 (this is quite a savings off the normal $20 individual and $35 family rate).  The family membership includes everyone in your immediate family including a spouse, and dependents 22 years of age and younger, including pets.

This covers:

• More than 8,000 brand name and all generic medications (more than 400 generics are available) for a three-month supply at less than $1 a week.
• Savings on flu shots
• Pet prescriptions
• Nebulizers
• Diabetic supplies
• Bonuses when you purchase Walgreens and Nice! Brand products and photofinishing services.

Prescription Savings Club membership is risk free – If you don’t save more than the cost of your membership during the first year, you’ll be refunded the difference.

Stay informed of changes in your prescription coverage by following Walgreens on Facebook and Walgreens on Twitter.