Prescription Savings Club

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

Were you affected by the termination of the Express Scripts program at Walgreens?  Until recently, my family was part of the Express Scripts program through my husbands union insurance.  I know first hand how many people will be affected by the change.

Over the past year, Walgreens and Express Script worked to negotiate a new contract.  The negotiations were unsuccessful resulting in a contact termination on December 31, 2011.  This includes all Walgreens pharmacies nationwide and Duane Reade pharmacies in the New York City area.

The result of the lost contact is patients losing their pharmacists and potentially driving further to fill a prescription. Unfortunately, patients are not seeing their costs go down in exchange for the increased hassle of losing their Walgreens Pharmacy. Express Scripts itself has stated that clients will not see any significant savings from excluding Walgreens from its network!

In order to give you the scale of those affected, one of Express Scripts’ clients is Tricare.  Tricare is the health and prescription drug program for America’s military service men and women.

Employers even want Walgreens as part of the Express Scripts program.  In a recent survey, 82% of employers said that they would not exclude Walgreens for less than 5% savings on their total pharmacy purchase.  It is clear that employers and employees alike would prefer to keep Walgreens in their Express Scripts Network.

Walgreens  is working to make this transition as smooth as possible.  Efforts include helping patients continue to use Walgreens when possible or take care of them as they are forced to leave Walgreens in order to use their in-network coverage.

Please note that only patients with certain prescription insurance plans managed by Express Scripts are impacted.   You will need to check with your local Walgreens pharmacist to find out for sure if you’re impacted.

Walgreens is offering a special discount on annual membership for its Prescription Savings Club in January to help ease the transition.

An Individual can join during a special January promotion for only $5 and a family membership is just $10!  The family membership covers everyone in your immediate family, including a spouse, dependents 22 and younger and pets.

Walgreens Prescription Savings Club members will receive savings on more than 8,000 brand name and all generic medications. More than 400 generics are available with a three-month supply for less than $1 a week.  Regular annual membership is $20 for an individual and $35 for a family.  This is a fantastic savings available only during the month of January.

Other benefits include:

• Savings on more than 8,000 brand-name and all generic medications
• Discounts on flu shots, pet prescriptions, nebulizers and diabetic supplies
• Bonuses when you purchase Walgreens brand products and photofinishing services

Make sure to join the Prescription Savings Club during January to take advantage of the special savings offer!

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