Posted on 04/15/2010 11:05:57 AM PDT by Willie Green
Meijer and Giant Eagle are offering free diabetes medications to customers with a prescription, upping the ante among grocery chains hoping to lure customers with free medications.
Metformin Immediate Release, the most commonly prescribed medicine to treat type 2 diabetes, joins several prescribed antibiotics and prenatal vitamins now available at no charge at the Michigan-based grocery retailer, Meijer said yesterday.
Metformin dosages offered include 500 mg, 850 mg and 1,000 mg tablets, said Effie Steele, clinical-services coordinator. Tablets will be dispensed at up to 100 at a time. The pills typically would cost a patient $14.30 for the 500 mg dosage and $41.99 for the 1,000 mg dosage, spokesman Frank Guglielmi said.
Giant Eagle's free diabetes-drug program, also announced yesterday, will offer five generic medications: Chlorpropamide, Glimepiride, Glipizide, Glyburide and Metformin, spokesman Mike Duffey said yesterday. The retailer's program is offered at its Columbus-area and Toledo stores.
Meijer and Giant Eagle long ago joined major grocery retailers Kroger and Walmart in competing for business by offering free or low-cost generic prescription drugs.
But Meijer and Giant Eagle are the only grocery retailers serving Ohio to offer the free diabetes medication. Publix grocery stores also make the offer, but the Florida-based chain doesn't have stores in central Ohio.
"So much of what we do is designed to promote a healthier lifestyle for our shoppers, whether it's helping them to live better or to feel better," Hank Meijer, co-chairman and CEO of Meijer, said in a statement. "This is one more way Meijer can help our customers build healthier lifestyles while saving them money."
A Giant Eagle executive cited similar reasons for making its offer.
"Type 2 diabetes is unfortunately an increasingly common disease in the U.S.," said Randy Heiser, vice president of pharmacy for Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle. "It's important to ensure that patients are able to afford treatment, and that is why Giant Eagle is offering these five commonly prescribed diabetes medications at no cost whatsoever."
Kroger has no immediate plans to follow suit, an official said yesterday.
Kroger spokesman Doug Cornelius said the chain will continue with its $4 and $10 generic-prescription program.
Retailers' free and low-cost programs have had an effect on prescription-drug sales nationally, with sales up 5.1 percent to $300.3billion last year, compared with growth of 1.8percent in 2008, according to IMS Health, a Connecticut-based data tracking firm.
IMS found that generics now represent 75 percent of all dispensed prescriptions in the U.S., up from 57percent in 2004. The total number of generic prescriptions filled increased 5.9percent in 2009, while the number of brand-name prescriptions filled declined 7.6percent.
It’s the testing supplies that are killer in costs, from what diabetics tell me.
The first one’s always free.
Who says dopers don't have "rights"?
Not in the Houston area. Granted they are kept behind the counter and you must ask for them but no prescription is required them or for insulin.
I think my mom has to carry a prescription for them here, at least when she travels by plane, etc.
It’s the testing supplies that are killer in costs, from what diabetics tell me.
Yeah... the blood glucose meters and test strips practice the same pricing gimmick as computer inkjet printers and ink cartridges: They practically give the meter away dirt cheap, but then you're locked into their special brand of test strips which can run about $1 apiece... which starts adding up pretty quick if you test 3~4 times a day....
The brand I use costs me about 40¢ per strip... and since I'm fortunately able to control my blood glucose level pretty easily with diet (many diabetics have much greater difficulty than I), I only test once or twice per day...
Still, it all adds up pretty quickly.
We shop Giant Eagle when in Columbus. Good store.
They have a cents off gas program that’s way better than Kroger’s.
Get 10 c. / gal off for each $100 in groceries.
My SiL often gets gas for 50 c/gal. or more discount.
Krogers discount is max at 10c/ $100.
Wish Giant Eagle would come the the Raleigh area.
My wife likes the Pittsburgesque food items also. :)
Perogies??? Chipped ham???
Is Mrs. V a yinzer?
Not in the Houston area. Granted they are kept behind the counter and you must ask for them but no prescription is required them or for insulin.
Hmmmmmm...
They gave me a prescription for both the insulin and syringes when I was first diagnosed with diabetes... but I didn't realize that a prescription wasn't a requirement.
But I'm fortunate that my diabetes is "mild" and controlled by diet and metformin... I don't inject insulin at all unless my blood sugar goes above 200... (and I seldom even go over 150)
Yes it does. Hubby has Type II and sometimes he ‘avoids’ testing. He takes Metformin, and Actos (which is quite costly).
Perogies??? Chipped ham???
Lo-carb Lemon-Blennd made with Splenda anat???
Yes it does. Hubby has Type II and sometimes he ‘avoids’ testing. He takes Metformin, and Actos (which is quite costly).
The first month that I was discharged from the hospital, they had me on Januvia in addition to the other meds. That stuff worked very well for me... but it cost $200/month so I'm getting by without it. My tests noticeably fluctuate a lot more when I stopped the Januvia, but still very much within the recommended control range, so I'm not really risking death by giving up on a $200/month med.
Since I use an insulin pump I test more like 8 times or more a day. I wish they were offering insulin free. As a type 1 I’ve never used anything except insulin.
It depends on what type of insulin you are on. The fast acting ones need a prescription here in Ohio. Humalog is deadly to someone who isn’t a diabetic.
It depends on what type of insulin you are on. The fast acting ones need a prescription here in Ohio. Humalog is deadly to someone who isn’t a diabeticI can only imagine...
City Chicken :) She’s from McKeesport
They gave me a prescription for both the insulin and syringes when I was first diagnosed with diabetes... but I didn't realize that a prescription wasn't a requirement.
likewise here. I have purchased both while out on the road in an emergency situation and was not asked for the prescription and I asked about that. I use two different types plus metformin plus diet plus exercise.
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