SDM Dispensing Fees

[raceraj]

The only perscription my household gets is my wife BirthControl....and it ALWAYS irks me that we pay $12 for some Pharm-Tech to put 3 lil stickers on 3 lil boxes, put em in a bag, then pass them to us...
No Medical Insuarance for us which is the only reason the cost bugs me.

[carlyincanada]

[QUOTE=FallenPixels;3770094]Careful with that, there was a story a while back that the pharmacies were not the same pills and were selling generics as the real thing and that accounts for the price difference

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Thanks, he checked with them & they say its the exact same script only their fee is $8.85.

[alicia]

Well I might not like SDM as a pharmacy after all. I transferred my prescription last night and said I'd be back in the morning. It wasn't ready when I went in at 1pm - it wasn't even entered into the system so I can't even figure out if it's beneficial for me to get my prescription there. We shall see.

[hopeinfaith]

If you have a Costco near you I'd go there. We fill sometimes up to 10 prescriptions at a time as a family so paying 3.89 per script vs 11.99 adds up quickly. I won't pay 11.99 to have them pull something from a shelf and put a sticker on it.

[tjthemanto]

So do you pay $11.99 as a dispensing fee everytime you fill a prescription? Is that high for a dispensing fee compared to anywhere else (aside from whether you can collect points or not)?

Yes that's extremely high ..I believe Costco has the lowest dispensing fee & you DON'T have to be a Costco member to access their pharmacy ..its only around $ 4 or something like that . I think WM is not bad either around $ 6 - $ 7

The dispensing fees are ridiculous if you have to pay from your pocket & if your insurance doesn't cover it

I can understand if its a new medication or change in medication ..but for people who have no change in medication whatsoever & year after year go in to just get a re-fill for the same medication(s) ..those fees are ridiculous . Basically you get charged by the pharmacist for counting tablets ..lol ..with no advice or time spent by the pharmacist whatsoever .

No wonder most pharmacist make $ 100 K + ..there are pharmacist who make more than the doctor's ( general physicians ) who wrote the precription & did the diagnosis make

[tjthemanto]

I have never heard of or paid for this? Is this in Alberta too? I think I have probably filled less than 10 prescriptions in my life, very curious now.

Your insurance usually takes care of it ..the only time you realise that you have to pay the dispensing fee is when you don't have insurance & you have to pay for it OOP .

The pharmacy bills the insurance directly .

[Insane]

I have never heard of or paid for this? Is this in Alberta too? I think I have probably filled less than 10 prescriptions in my life, very curious now.

I used to live in Ontario and then moved to the NWT. In the NWT (which follows alberta for a lot of things) they don't break it down. In Ontario your prescription would state the cost of the drug, the dispensing fee and then the total for the prescription. Here in the NWT all it says is the cost. I asked at walmart once and she said it's automatic and she actually had no idea what their dispensing fee was. I find it rather secretive personally. If you are going to charge one, make it transparent.