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Do you prefer independently owned pharmacies or chain pharmacies?
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The closing of Sorg Sample Pharmacy, the oldest independently owned drugstore in Marion, on Dec. 27 is an all-too-often scenario in Iowa rural and urban communities.
The state had 234 rural independently owned pharmacies at the end of 2011. Ninety-four rural Iowa communities had only one pharmacy that was independently owned.
Sixty-six rural communities had a single independently owned drugstore that was 10 miles from any other pharmacy, according to a study by the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis at the University of Iowa College of Public Health.
The number of independently owned rural pharmacies in the United States was relatively constant from 2003 to 2006, peaking around May 2006, according to the UI study, authored by Kaitlin Boyle, Keith Mueller and Fred Ullrich.
One of the biggest changes came in the period from May 2006 through September 2008, when there was a rapid decline in the number of rural independently owned pharmacies nationally, from 7,395 to 6,799. The 8.1 percent drop took place after the introduction of the Medicare Part D program.
What are your preferences? Do you prefer independently-owned pharmacies or chain pharmacies for your pharmaceutical needs?
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We really enjoyed using a local drugstore for our prescription needs. The people were friendly and helpful. We were even willing to pay a little more via a higher co-pay. Then our insurance company, essentially, forced us to change to a mail order distributor. Now we talk to machines and have endless problems.
Does your insurance ‘require’ you to use mail-order? Ours continues to send letters prodding us to sign up for mail-order, but I won’t give in. They want to make the rules without contibuting to the cost of the prescriptions!
1. Our insurance company will not pay for any portion of our meds, so, I pay cash at the pharmacy. That way, the insurance company can NOT dictate that I only purchase a 30-day supply at a time. (The information is not sent to the insurance company using this method.) They don’t contibute, they don’t get a vote!
2. I support local business. Same goes for purchasing any other thing item — buy local, first. And by local, I don’t mean limited to my own zip code. We live in an area that is several counties wide and high — that is local enough for me.
3. We live in a small town, and use the local pharmacy when possible. However, they have limited hours, and when you work out of town, it isn’t always possible to get into the store during store hours. So, we have a couple of prescriptions that are filled by a chain pharmacy in the city in which I work.
I guess it’s true that our insurance company does not “require” us to use the mail order service. However, if we do not, our co-pay is 100%.