There's been so much press on Wal-Mart's decision to cut the price of prescription drugs yet again. The mega-retailer's original $4 prescription plan completely changed the face of the business. Generic meds now account for an overwhelming number of prescriptions in the United States. Wal-Mart played a big role in breaking the stranglehold that Big Pharma's TV ads had on the market.

Now Wal-Mart's program is being expanded to allow a 90-day supply for $10. Target has immediately matched the deal. While you'll save $2 over 3 months, Wal-Mart and Target benefit by saving on the cost of labor. Wal-Mart is also making its private label brand, Equate, available on the list of approved drugs.

Meanwhile, the June edition of Consumer Reports names the best pharmacies based on price and service. Costco is tops when it comes to saving on brand-name drugs. The warehouse club can be hundreds of dollars cheaper over the life of a prescription than the big chain drugstores like Walgreens and Rite-Aid. The beauty of Costco's pharmacy is that you do not have to be a member to use it. Some Costcos even have a separate pharmacy entrance for non-members to cut down on the risk of shoplifting.

If you're looking for the best service, Consumer Reports says you should try an independently owned pharmacy. Indies get a score of 92 out of 100 for service, while Costco only gets a respectable 85. Meanwhile, if you use a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) through your work, Cigna and Aetna are dead last. They get the lowest marks in the shopping experience category. On the flip side, Caremark has been singled out as the best PBM.

Wal-Mart was met with so much hostility and skepticism when they launched their $4 prescription plan. People thought they had ulterior motives, but the monster retailer really just wanted to build traffic. Wal-Mart didn't originate the cheap drug business model -- Kmart was already offering a 3-month supply for $15 -- but so far they've been the most successful with it. Everyone in the market has had to respond to Wal-Mart's challenge with their own discount prescription drug plan; regional supermarket chain Publix has even made some antibiotics free!

Now Kroger, the nation's largest supermarket chain, is expanding its trial $4 prescription plan to select markets in Kentucky, Kansas, Utah, Nevada, Georgia and Texas. They're also offering birth control for $9/month. Most doctors are clueless about prescription prices. They're wooed by Big Pharma reps coming in with free food and other swag, and they write prescriptions accordingly. Consumers now have the power to take control of the prescription pad at their doctor's office. So use the power the market affords you to protect your wallet! Before you leave your doctor's office, call the pharmacy and find out if the drug you need can be substituted with a generic. Have the doctor change the script if need be. Take the control back. It's your body and your wallet.

Since the late 1980s, Clark has thought it's crazy that medications can only be dispensed when a doctor writes a prescription. Many other countries have their pharmacists write scripts and dispense the medication. The FDA is now considering adopting a similar policy. We're not talking highly addictive things like Vicodin or Oxycontin here; we're talking about two-week cycles of antibiotics and other relatively benign medications. Clark loves this idea. Doctors are already overworked and in short supply. Because pharmacists are very well-trained and knowledgeable about medications, it's almost a no-brainer to allow them to pick up some of the slack. The Los Angeles Times reports that Kaiser Permanente pharmacists already have the authority to write and fill their own scripts.

Pharmacists are a vastly underutilized resource. To treat them like clericals who just fill prescriptions isn't Clark Smart. The numbers of primary care doctors are down 50 percent, so empowering pharmacists to write prescriptions is one possible solution to the shortage. Clark knows doctors will be up in arms about his feelings on this issue, so he's ready for the fallout on the Clark Stinks forum! On a related noted, Minnesota has banned pharmaceutical sales reps from giving free gifts and meals to doctors. These kinds of sales practices subtly influence the brand choices doctors make when they write prescriptions. Now The New York Times reports that the pharmaceutical companies have come up with yet another tactic to influence the selection of scripts; they're wooing nurses and office managers since they can't get to the doctors anymore!

Navigating the healthcare maze can be an exhausting process if you or your family members are sick. Employers are starting to understand this and make healthcare advocates available to their employees as a free benefit. Healthcare advocates are usually former medical professionals who help people get what they need from the medical system. Right now about 3,000 employers offer healthcare advocate access. But very few workers even know they're entitled to such a benefit. Clark thinks of the healthcare advocacy phenomenon like he does expeditors. When you live in a city, sometimes you can hire an expeditor who knows the right people to contact to expedite any request. In the same way, healthcare advocates can assist you in getting to doctors and certain facilities that you might not be able to get into on your own. Of course, it goes without saying that healthcare should not be this difficult. Yet that's the reality. Healthcare spending accounts for 1 in every 6 dollars in our economy and it's not slowing down anytime soon.

Clark's cheapness has set off a couple of recent firestorms. Syndicated financial writer Greg Karp recently wrote about Clark's use of a single 17-cent razor for a year. Last March, Clark graduated to his second razor. But spending 34 cents on blades for two years is pretty good, don't you think? Yet many people have expressed that they think this is cheapness without a purpose because his razors are so cheap to begin with. In a way, Clark agrees -- but he'd definitely be saving a lot over time if his blade of choice was an expensive one. Other people are upset with Clark over the Zenni Optical issue. For those of you who don't know, Zenni provides deeply discounted prescription eyeglasses starting at $8. Clark himself wears progressive lenses from Zenni that cost him $41. But some people wonder how they can be any good if they're so cheap. Clark's friend Jim Strickland, an investigative reporter for WSB-TV, recently did a story about eyeglasses where he compared Zennis and a number other more expensive brands. The Zennis had perfect prescriptions versus the glasses that were filled at well-known optometry chain stores. The message here is that buying cheap glasses does not automatically mean you'll get bad quality. Consumer Reports recently revealed the three best places to have your eyeglasses prescription filled: At an independent practice where the optometrist has his or her own dispensing operation; at a Costco location; and at the For Eyes Optical discount chain.

Health benefits are becoming more and more expensive for employers to provide. The Dallas Morning News estimates that the average employee will cost their company $9,312 next year. In classic cost-shifting mode, your share is going to steadily rise too. Employer costs are up about 50 percent over the last five years, but employee portions are up around 60 percent! Healthcare accounts for 1 in every 6 dollars spent in our country. So this hot potato issue is only going to keep getting hotter. Clark advises people to pay close attention during open enrollment periods. You need to make the smartest choice you can. If you choose unwisely, you may have limited and expensive access to certain services should you become ill. The latest stats show that the average employee will pay $165 out-of-pocket every month in 2008. But Joel -- one of Clark's producers -- is 23 and can buy an individual policy for about $65 per month because of his young age. That's without any employer subsidy. Meanwhile, Clark at 52 years of age would be charged big bucks for the same policy. The cost rises as you get older. Yet older workers rarely call out sick unless they're truly ill -- unlike younger folks who take mental health days. But it all balances out because older workers tend to be out for longer when they actually do get sick.

The recent GM strike highlights something important about healthcare benefits in our country. GM has historically been one of the most generous providers of healthcare to its employees. In fact, they've been so giving that employee and retiree healthcare has been something of an albatross around the company's neck. Now GM has worked out a deal to end the strike that's shocking: The company has agreed to put $35 billion into a union-run trust fund that will provide healthcare to retirees. By contrast, some small employers don't even provide healthcare and some entrepreneurs don't have it for themselves! On the other side is Wal-Mart, which is now offering better healthcare plans for its employees that start at about $100/year -- this from the company that's earned so much ire for its treatment of workers. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart has cut most of its generic drug prices down to $4. So when you go to the doctor, bring the Wal-Mart list of cheap prescriptions and ask your doctor if any discounted drugs would work for you before he or she writes the prescription. This will help you take control of your healthcare. Clark is a big believer in people taking control of this part of their lives. He doesn’t think that employers should offer healthcare to employees. He prefers that each individual or family should buy its own coverage. The future of healthcare in our country is going one of two ways: Either we'll have socialized medicine or people will have to provide it for themselves.

The healthcare question is a big one among presidential candidates. There's no one right answer to this question, but Clark knows that he doesn't like the idea of government-provided healthcare. If you ask the Europeans or Canadians who have government-sponsored health benefits they'll tell you they love it -- until they get sick and run into all the hassles associated with it. In our own way, we've moved closer to a parallel system. A recent report about the dermatology industry found that patients who want Botox -- which is not covered under insurance -- are seen much quicker than people who have a mole that may be cancerous. Why does this happen? Because the doctor's expenses to see the patient with the mole will barely be covered by an insurance company -- and the doctor's office will have to fight tooth and nail for whatever money the doc gets. But people coming in for Botox pay cash upfront. So the free market kicks in and the doctors treat those patients who will reward them the most financially. Now there's a trend among doctors who offer Botox, Lasik and other cash-only, uninsurable services to offer "no no no" plans: no payment, no interest and no down payment.

The cost of prescriptions has been in the news a lot lately. Regional supermarket chain Publix is now giving away select generic antibiotics to drum up business for its in-store pharmacies. Clark recently had a funny prescription story related to his ongoing sinus infection. The doctor first put him on a generic antibiotic that cost $8 for 20 pills. But when the infection didn't go away, the doctor wrote a new prescription that cost more than $120 for 10 pills at a warehouse club -- and he's still not cured! Meanwhile, his 8-year-old daughter needed a liquid prescription that ran $225. Clark jokes that he had it filled and then didn't eat for four days! The best advice here is to ask your pharmacist what your prescription is going to cost before you buy it. If it's too expensive, call your doctor's office and see if they can write a prescription for an alternate drug that's more affordable.

Clark recently read that 60 percent of all prescriptions being filled are generic now. The New York Times reported that a number of brand name drugs are going generic in the next two years, which is throwing BigPharma into a tailspin. One company is laying off 5,000 people because a blockbuster brand name drug is set to go generic. The consumer is set to save a bundle when this trend heats up. Discount stores have already been getting into the action with Kmart doing a three-month supply of some medicines for $15, and Wal Mart doing its own $4 deal. Other consumer-driven shifts in the medical field can be seen in new websites that let you rate a doctor online. Forbes reports that RateMDs.com is one of the most popular. Some doctors who have bad bedside manner are getting their feelings hurt because patients are acting as consumers and rating them. Clark loves that patients are seizing the power to rate their medical providers, and he thinks it's especially important to vet your doctor when you get a referral to a specialist.

50 million Americans have no health insurance and are getting price-gouged by hospitals. One of the medical journals did a study that compares the prices for service paid by the insured vs. the uninsured. Those with coverage might get a bill that's $5,000 for a certain service. Typically they'll also have 20 percent co-pay, so that's an additional $1,000, for a combined $6,000 price tag. However, if you don't have coverage you will be billed $12,500 for the same procedure -- that's more than twice the price! What happens is that the big insurance companies cut deals with hospitals to reduce the amount they have to pay. Then they pass some of those saving on to their customers. But people without insurance don't have the same negotiating power and get stuck with the bill that's twice as large.

It's nuts that our system is upside down and backwards, especially if the goal is to move toward consumer-driven healthcare based on quality of service and price. Clark thinks there's no excuse not to have price lists at your medical provider. Medicine suffers from lack of financial transparency -- you can't comparison shop because you don’t know the price of any of the services you're going to receive. One insurance company is tackling this problem by ranking hospitals and doctors with green, yellow and red colors to tell you how much out-of-pocket expense you'll have. But we really need to be able to shop for medical care by price. Medical care accounts for 15 percent of our total national wealth each year. Of course, people are getting better health care, but Clark still has the feeling that we're squandering that 15 percent. After all, we spend more on health costs per person than any other country, yet we have shorter life-spans and are not as healthy as citizens in other nations. We're spending so much, but getting so little back. The reason is because medicine is largely not run like a business; Dentistry and Lasik eye surgery are two areas of the medical profession that are run like a business. The experiences in those offices are great because the services are driven by modern technology and the marketplace sets the price. They're great with customer service too, providing prompt appointments because they have to compete in a real marketplace.

About two years ago, Clark first started talking about clinics where you can go to see a medical professional without an appointment. Big retail chains like Wal-Mart and Target sometimes have such places on premises. What you usually do is speak with a nurse practitioner, not an actual doctor. But they're affordable and a good choice if you have a very routine medical concern. The drugstores chains have also jumped on the idea of these in-store clinics because they help create an instant market for their own pharmacy counters. The latest development now is that Wal-Mart has announced plans to establish 2,000 of these "doc-in-a-box" practices in its stores.

Clark loves the idea of having a one-stop shop option in the medical field. Up until now, the medical profession has been very slow to embrace change in the marketplace. That's why the healthcare experience for the average American includes going to the doctor's office across town, getting a handwritten prescription and then running all the way back across town to the pharmacy just to wait to have it filled. That's a very inefficient process that's not customer friendly. This new wave of in-store clinics promises to help shake up the medical field. And because they take up very little real estate in a retail store, Clark believes they're the wave of the future. Whether it's a good or bad future remains to be seen; at the very least, the clinics will help alleviate the crunch in hospital emergency rooms.

Zennioptical.com is still giving amazing deals on prescription eyeglasses to the public. $8 is all it costs for basic prescription glasses. Clark has ordered a pair and so have others on the staff and the customer service and the products have been fantastic. Clark finally got his in and he has not had any problems with them. So if you want some cheap prescription eyeglasses that don't feel cheap, check out Zenni!

The idea of discount generic prescriptions is not a new idea. K-Mart pioneered the idea about two years before Wal-Mart even got in the game. Once these discounts started taking place, people started asking their doctors for the cheap prescriptions. Costco is one of the few businesses that did not generate huge revenue from massive markups on prescription drugs, even before this discount trend began. So why go for the name brand stuff when you can get the generics for so much less? If your doctor is telling you that your prescription costs a bunch, tell him you want the generic stuff.

Helpingpatients.org is a website that helps consumers see what assistance might be available for them when purchasing prescription drugs. If you really want to save money though, buy generic because they are usually dirt cheap. This website gives you access to over 475 public and private assistance programs that, if you qualify, can help to make your prescription drugs free or nearly free. Check it out!

In 2003, Clark was on the Today show pushing people to buy drugs from Canada. Soon after, he got a nasty letter from officials in the FDA. They chastised him for suggesting people buy drugs across the border instead of in the States. It’s such a big deal to the U.S. drug makers and their cronies in the federal government that resources were diverted away from the war in Iraq and spent on the crackdown of Canadian drugs. Thank goodness that isn’t happening anymore, and the U.S. Senate has voted to permit people to bring drugs into the country from overseas. It happened with the provision that the drug-order pharmacies are checked out, and most turned out to be fine. Check out some of the approved pharmacies here. Ironically, it’s the drugs in the U.S. that have turned out to be counterfeit or possibly tainted. That’s because we are the only market in the world where drug prices are not controlled. Drug makers charge whatever they want, in part, to subsidize the cost of medicine for people in other countries. Clark would like a free market to exist all over the world. That way, there would be pricing pressure to lower prices here and increase prices overseas.

The Wall Street Journal has done a research project on prescription drugs, showing the disparity in the industry. The price difference – even between generics – is huge. The last survey found Costco Wholesale to be the cheapest. This time, it was Sam’s Club with Costco coming in No. 2. For example, Zocor is $90 at Walgreens, $80 at CVS, $12 at Costco and $6 at Sam’s Club. The generic of Zoloft was $74 at Walgreens, $70 at CVS, $6 at Costco at and Sam’s Club it was $5. So what’s happening? Instead of pricing generics up from the wholesale cost, places like Walgreen’s and CVS discount from the cost of brand name drugs. So, a generic may cost them $3 at wholesale, but they charge $70 or $80 because it’s still less than a brand name. That’s why CVS and Walgreens push generic drugs so hard. They make a ton on generics because they mark them up so much. So, it’s clear that filling your prescriptions at Costco and Sam’s Club is the way to go. If you’re worried about being a member, don’t worry. In many states, you don’t need a membership to get prescriptions from those warehouse clubs.

We are approaching a time when employers may impose certain edicts on you regarding health care. About two-thirds of people get their health care from their employers. And, as health care costs rise, those employers are having to come up with ways to meet their bottom line. For example, employers - through the insurers - are about to stick it to you if you prefer to buy brand name drugs. On the other hand, if you get a generic drug, you may get it for free or next to free. Sometimes brand name drugs don’t have an exact generic competitor. But your doctor can tell you if there is something you can take that could also work. Now if it doesn’t, you’ll have to pay the big bucks for brand name drugs. But it may work just fine. Health care is a privilege, not a right. But you want to be smart about getting it.

For the last four years, Clark has encouraged people to buy their prescription drugs from Canada because they offer such better deals than companies do in the States. Of course, the FDA doesn’t like the fact that people buy drugs in Canada because our pharmaceutical companies lose money when that happens. The FDA has even tried to stop people at the border when coming back into the U.S. But now that’s all about to stop. The U.S. Customs Department has decided to stop seizing drugs at the border, hopefully to concentrate on more important matters. Who knows if this is a political move since it’s an election year, but it’s good for consumers regardless. Now, you want to keep in mind that there are some phony companies that sell bogus drugs. You want to buy from certified pharmacies only. And remember that it’s only true for brand name drugs. Generic drugs are much cheaper in the States. Check our prescription plan guide for more information.

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Now, in other drug news, Clark mentioned the new $4 prescriptions from Wal-Mart. Well, apparently K-Mart has been in the game for awhile, selling scrips for $5 a pop in certain areas. You pay $15 for a three-month supply. So, check at your local K-Mart.

The federal government’s new Medicare drug program has been a financial and administrative disaster. So news about prescription drugs has been negative. But there is a silver lining. As a result of the federal boondoggle, more consumers are learning about generic drugs. A recent study found that 90 percent of people switch to generic meds as soon as one is available. With any brand name drug prescribed for you, always ask your doctor if there is a generic equivalent. Also remember that doctors sometimes prescribe therapeutic drugs for a condition, and that can be successful too. The truth is that generics cost pharmacies 1/20th the cost of the brand name. But pharmacies sell them for much more, so they make a much huge profit on the generic drugs. Also important to mention is that Costco Wholesale uses very different pricing methods than most pharmacies. Any prescription, whether generic or brand name, is marked up from wholesale instead of marked down from retail. And, no prescription is marked up by more than14 percent. So, on brand names Costco will save you some, but on generics the savings is huge. Now, Costco is a membership club in most states, meaning you have to pay $45 a year to walk in the door. But, Costco cannot keep you out if you’re just getting a prescription.

You’ve probably heard about the new prescription drug plan from Medicare for seniors. Three quarters of Medicare recipients do not go on the Internet at all, which only adds to the confusion and complexity of the plan. There is a monthly premium, an annual deductible, 75 percent coverage of drugs, followed by no coverage, followed by 95 percent coverage. Huh? Plus, each private insurer has its own “formulary,” meaning preferred medicines. The only way to figure out what you want to do is to spend a lot of time reading through the paperwork. If you’re not good on the Web, it’s also a good idea to enlist someone to help you. Clark hopes Congress will revisit the program and simplify it after the first year of confusion. But remember that YOU MUST MAKE A CHOICE or you lose out on the benefits. In the meantime, Clark suggests that you sign up for the cheapest plan now. When Congress simplifies the program, you’ll already be a participant.

Do you want a brand name prescription drug that costs $60 to fill or a generic that costs $20? In most cases, Clark would pick the generic. You may not. When you have a doctor visit, he or she may hand you some samples to get you started and it’s always a brand name medicine. You are so excited about the samples because you’re getting something free. But, when you go fill your prescription, what do you get? The brand name medicine, of course. And you pay for it too. It’s caused a tug of war between drug companies and insurance companies. As a result, Aetna has offered to give patients a 30-day prescription for free. The patient doesn’t even have to be an Aetna member. Aetna reps simply put a vending machine in doctor’s offices where people can get meds immediately. A doctor or nurse punches in a secret code and out pops a 30-day supply. About 100 doctor’s offices have the machines right now, according to the Wall Street Journal. Clark likes this idea as an alternative because everyone wins. Costco and Sam’s Club are two other alternatives. They charge a tiny mark-up on generics, so you’ll save a ton.

United Healthcare is trying to get its customers to cut their pills in half. Pill prescriptions that are 10 mg or 20 mg generally cost the same amount. So, if you have a 10 mg prescription, you can instantly cut your drug costs in half if you purchase the 20 mg pills and chop them in half. It's like getting twice the bang for your buck. Some drug stores even have devices that will split the pill in half. Another way to save money in the drug market is to continue to use expired drugs. The expiration dates on drugs are really just made up dates. The military saved lots of money by testing tons of expired drugs and finding out they were still effective. Medications used up to 5 years after their expiration dates retain 90 percent of their potency. Clark wants you to save money in the drug market.

Prescription drug ads can be very frustrating these days because they are pushed on us all the time and the claims they make sound life-saving. So many people were buying into the ads that, at one point, people were getting ill from ignoring the side effects. According to Men’s Health, the negative aspect is changing how people feel about the ads and how they use them. The number of people who remember the bad things has gone up to about 8 in 10 people. The number of people who remember the good stuff has declined to 7 in 10. And the number of people who ask for specific drugs when they visit a doctor’s office has declined to one in five. That is a big decline. Don’t be a guinea pig and buy into these ads until you know more about them.

Drug commercials are everywhere these days and they influence us because they are effective. People see how happy others look in commercials and they want the drugs. So, doctors, who make money off these new drugs, are sometimes more than happy to write prescriptions. The problem is that these drugs aren’t always safe and they are causing consumers health problems. Sometimes taking an over-the-counter medicine or something that has been around for years is much safer. In the Archives of Internal Medicine, there is a new study showing that you would have been much better off taking an over-the-counter arthritis medicine instead of Vioxx or Celebrex. But people wanted those medicines because they appeared to be so effective in ads. Turns out they were much more expensive and could cause serious health problems.

The FDA has done great work through the years and Clark commends them on the research and advancements the agency has accomplished. However, the FDA has become a shill for the pharmaceutical industry. The FDA has kept drugs on the market that are unsafe and possibly fatal. At the same time, the FDA suggests that consumers shouldn’t buy drugs from Canada because they are unsafe. Could the Feds be more hypocritical? Sen. Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, is furious because the FDA has tried to twist the arm of the Canadians to keep a potentially harmful drug on the market . Canada recently took the hyperactivity drug Adderall off the market because it’s been found to be unsafe. Yet the FDA was pushing the country to keep it available. The behavior of the FDA is unconscionable and it needs to stop!

Drug commercials are everywhere these days and they influence us because they are effective. People see how happy others look in commercials and they want the drugs. So, doctors, who make money off these new drugs, are sometimes more than happy to write prescriptions. The problem is that these drugs aren’t always safe and they are causing consumers health problems. Sometimes taking an over-the-counter medicine or something that has been around for years is much safer. In the Archives of Internal Medicine, there is a new study showing that you would have been much better off taking an over-the-counter arthritis medicine instead of Vioxx or Celebrex. But people wanted those medicines because they appeared to be so effective in ads. Turns out they were much more expensive and could cause serious health problems.

Several pharmaceutical companies are now offering a free discount card for prescription medicines that will save about 25 percent if you have no prescription related discount. They did this in part to relieve some of the pressure involving current prescription cards in the United States. But regardless, it’s still happening and it will be available to about 35 millions Americans. The card will be available sometime in February and you can find out more information at togetherrxaccess.com.You can also call 800-444-4106 to learn more. To be eligible, you must be under 65, receiving no prescription drug coverage from the government or an employer, and you must be under a certain income based on the number of people in your family. If you’re single, you must make less than $30,000. If there are two people in your family, it moves up to $40,000. Add $10,000 for each additional household member. If you’re eligible, don’t assume the price is always the best in the marketplace. Continue to check the three warehouse clubs, Costco, BJ’s and Sam’s. You don't have to have a membership to get prescriptions from these places.

On the average, prescription drugs ordered from Canada are ½ the cost of what they are in America. Minnesota has put out an approved list of Canadian pharmacies, in support of buying medications from other countries. The problem is that the FDA is not doing a great job in regulating the safety of the medications crossing the border. The reason for this is because the FDA is very close with many of the Pharmaceutical companies. In December, President Bush had a meeting with Canadian officials that led to stricter limits on medications crossing the border. Pharmaceutical stores have popped up everywhere in border communities. Clark says that US prescription drugs are so expensive because the US spends the most money in the world on research. If the rest of the world aided in research, then the prices would go down.

The Food & Drug Administration has been enveloped in dishonesty in recent years. The FDA has become a lackey of the big pharmaceutical companies and now a top-level insider has blown the whistle on what’s been going on. David Graham, the associate director for science and medicine, testified before Congress about the huge cover-up going in the agency at the behest of the drug industry. He basically said the drugs that could harm or kill people were being kept on the market in order to protect drug makers. The FDA is trying to silence Graham and get rid of him, but some representatives in Congress fortunately are trying to protect him. Ironically, the FDA has been maligning the safety of the drugs coming from Canada, which many Americans buy, when along it’s the drugs being made in our own country that are dangerous. The good news is that a credibility gap has now opened, and Consumer Reports is right on top of it. The magazine has produced a Web site for consumers to check the safety, effectiveness and cost of drugs. It’s the Consumer Reports “Best Buy Drugs” site, and it is available now. Check it out at crbestbuydrugs.org.

Soon, when you go to a drug store, pharmacists are going to be able to offer medical advice on the prescriptions you are taking. Congress passed a law last year, stating that the pharmacist can get paid to sit down and talk with you about your medical situation. CBSNews.com reports that Rite Aid is already offering this on an experimental basis. You pay $80 for the first visit and $20 for each one after. This is going to be part of the Medicare program in a few years, and it may be a routine part of our health insurance. The Mayo Clinic, one of the best medical facilities in the U.S., has used a different approach to medicine like this for years. For instance, if a patient has multiple medical conditions, doctors meet to talk about that patient. They actually come up with a unified medical approach and then move forward. Unfortunately, outside the Mayo Clinic, that’s really not done in U.S. medicine. Doctors don’t normally work together, so they don’t consider a broad picture. Using the pharmacist could shed some new light on a situation and help clarify or cure the issue.

Millions of Americans now buy drugs from Canada because the cost, on average, is about half the cost of what they pay in the States. The FDA, in response, continues to issue statements about how the drugs from Canada are not safe. The reality is that they are the same drugs, yet the U.S. government refuses to certify them as fine – even though they have the power to do so. In fact, the FDA is so worried about losing money to Canada that it recently conducted a highly publicized seizure of these drugs at the border. U.S. Customs actually stopped a busload of Americans coming back into the States with Canadian drugs. You would think the government would spend its energy and resources on much more dangerous threats, such as terrorism. The FDA does not have the right to stop you from doing this, so don’t let this seizure scare you.

Pharmaceutical companies are romancing key Republican politicians to get them to support the “closed market” on prescription drugs, several news reports say. Obviously, the drug makers think the only way to win this fight is to do it the underhanded, sleazy way. Even though the FDA can certify drugs from Canada as being okay, they refuse to. That’s because the agency is in the hip pocket of the drug companies, which charge the most of any country for prescriptions. The elderly and sick cannot afford these prices, and they desperately need a free market. Clark hopes that some of our politicians get a clue about the right thing to do. This issue of affordable medicines is not going away, and they need to take some action for their constituents. In the meantime, if your doctor writes you a prescription and you know you can't afford it, tell him or her. Ask for a generic or substitute.

It’s definitely an election year! President Bush is feeling a lot of heat from senior citizens about prescription drug plans in our country. So he’s now back pedaling on the administration’s staunch position that Americans should not be allowed to buy drugs from other countries. He’s saying that he would like Americans to buy drugs from overseas, but he doesn’t want anyone to get injured or die from these drugs if they’re tainted. That is a bunch of hooey. The drugs are fine and the people want to buy them. Clark hopes the President reconsiders his position on this, even if he’s using it as a way to get more votes. But now states are getting involved and offering consumers even more options. Illinois has set up a program to help its residents buy drugs from Ireland, England and Canada. For more information on this program, click here. Minnesota and Wisconsin already have programs in place. USA Today recently published a chart showing that a three-month supply of heartburn medicine cost $422 in the U.S. The same drug cost $164 in Ireland, $166 in England and $172 in Canada. That’s a huge difference. So, this is a big issue and it’s going to get even bigger. Pfizer has also launched a new program for individuals who can get medicines free if they are under a certain income level. For families, it’s under $30,000 a year; individuals it’s $20,000. As income goes up, the discount goes down. Check that one out.

If you need a regular prescription medicine, Clark wants you to consider buying it from Canada. The average savings will be anywhere from 30 to 70 percent if you buy name brand drugs across the border. The opposite is true of generics; you don’t want to buy them from Canada because they are more expensive. But drugs from Canada are safe, despite what the government and the pharmaceutical companies want you to think. The state of Vermont recently went to the FDA with a proposal for a Canadian drug-buying pilot program that would help its residents buy drugs. The FDA wouldn’t even look at the proposal. So, to its credit, Vermont is going directly to federal court to file a case against the FDA. Three other states have created similar programs: Minnesota, Wisconsin and New Hampshire. Each state has certified Canadian drug programs as safe for citizens and they have links to the programs from their state sites. To get to these sites, click here. America has the highest drug prices in the world, and we need relief.

Clark has been encouraging consumers to buy prescriptions from Canada for years. It has caused a heated rebuttal from the pharmaceutical companies and from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We have the highest costs on prescriptions of any other country, and three surveys have come out recently showing that people are fed up. The AARP reports that 80 percent of seniors want to buy medicines from Canada, and want it to be fully legal. In polling of the general population, about two-thirds of the general public want prescriptions to be legal. An AP poll reported the same statistics. If the FDA would do its job, they can certify that pharmacies overseas or in Canada are legal. But the FDA is in the hip pocket of the pharmaceutical companies and won’t do this. If you don’t have a good prescription drug plan, and you’re not taking generics, you will save a substantial amount of money buying up north. Check out Clark’s buying guide online here.

Clark gets calls from identity theft victims all the time. It’s a crime that stretches beyond the resources of law enforcement, and, more importantly, the retailers, credit bureaus and the credit card companies don’t care that it happens. As a result, law abiding citizens who become victims are left to clean up the mess. But sometimes people just don’t take it. Clark talked with a woman today who became a detective as soon as she found out her identity had been stolen. Sherry Mullinax was just one step behind the crooks as they tried setting up all kinds of accounts in her name. First, she pulled her credit report online and checked every single number and account. She found out what stores the criminals went to and then called the fraud department of that company. She told store officials that someone was masquerading as her and she got a description of the thief from workers. Then she went to the police with all of the paperwork and the description. All the police had to do was follow up on her hard work. One of the items the thieves bought was a set of tires. So the police were there when the criminals went to the store to pick them up. Now, they’re facing charges in several states thanks to Mullinax’s hard work.

If you have parents or grandparents who are social security eligible, listen up. There is a prescription benefit program for Medicare recipients that Congress passed for this year and next. It involves you getting a card that costs between $0 and $30 and gets you discounts on prescriptions. The problem is that program is so confusing and complicated that only a fraction of one percent of those who are eligible have signed up. Clark would like your Mom or Dad to take advantage of the program, but most Medicare-eligible people don’t surf the Net. So it’s up to you to you to do the work for them. Find out what drugs they’re taking, go to medicare.gov and shop around for the cheapest source based on where they live. Then, help them sign up for a card. If you have a relative who is not Medicare eligible, help them save money by purchasing prescriptions in Canada. Check out Clark’s prescription buying guide to get started.

The federal government has a new Medicare drug discount program that has completely bombed. Sign ups have been atrocious and seniors have been very confused by the process. In addition, the government came up with some weird rules, saying that companies selling drugs could list low prices and then increase those prices after seniors bought the cards. So something that could have helped seniors has been really one-sided so far. The good news is that you can still get really great deals on medicines depending on where you live and where you shop. The consumer group, Consumer’s Checkbook, compared 17 of the most common prescriptions. The group found gigantic differences from one pharmacy to another. The hormone replacement drug Premarin, for instance, cost $151 and one pharmacy and $66 at another. Of the various pharmacies, the lowest prices were at Costco Wholesale. And you don’t have to have a membership to buy prescription medicines there. Buying prescriptions online can also make a tremendous difference. You can save about $30 on average. Also, insurance providers are starting to put more of the responsibility on members. The days of $5 prescriptions are gone. So, if you take a regular maintenance medication, you owe it to yourself to shop around. Check out more at checkbook.org.

Your Mom and Dad are in danger of being duped very soon. The new Medicare Prescription Benefit program is about to launch and price comparisons will be available online this Thursday. And every Medicare recipient will be deluged with information very shortly. When the politicians came up with this plan, it wouldn’t go into effect until 2006. Being that it’s an election year, they wanted to come up with something in the interim. So, they came up with the prescription card plan. The cards are available by zip code and under the sponsorship of different companies. They will give coverage of 0 to 25 percent. And, only somewhere around 20 percent of Medicare recipients know how to surf the Net. So, many of these people will need help because the comparisons will only be available online. Starting Thursday, you’ll be able to compare how much each medicine will cost at various pharmacies. Remember you can only buy one card per year. The cards become active June 1. You pick the card you want based on your parents’ zip code. The card should have a Medicare approval sticker on it. The one caveat to the legitimate program is that discount companies are allowed to change their minds on pricing. So, they can then triple the cost of the card the next week. Clark hopes marketplace pressure keeps the costs low. Phony companies will try to scam your parents out of their money by selling fake cards. So, watch out.

Clark talks a lot about buying prescription medicines from Canada, and has strongly advocated it for years. But the FDA continues to try and railroad this great opportunity and has made several heavy handed moves lately. The FDA recently went to Visa and MasterCard and tried to convince them not to process the charges people make for Canadian drugs. In addition, the FDA stopped a busload of senior citizens on their way back into the United States after they bought medicines from Canada. They had the bus stopped and detained the passengers on the bus. U.S. Senator Mark Dayton sponsors these shuttles and Clark thinks they are a great idea. The FDA has apologized for detaining the citizens. But the government is clearly showing its true colors in this arena. The agency has even said that it’s illegal to buy drugs from Canada, which is completely not true. But, Congress is not hearing any of it. In fact, Congress is in the process of fully legalizing the importation of drugs from Canada. Both the Senate and the House are about to pass the bill, which will also include Western Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. So, keep buying your medicines north of the border!

A new transition program for prescription discount cards will soon be under way. The new Medicare cards will be sold in the summer and will provide small discounts for certain people and large discounts for others. There has been a lot of negative talk about this program because some shady characters have popped up selling fake cards. Anyone trying to sell them right now is not selling a real card. There have also been some issues regarding the massive price differences from pharmacy to pharmacy for the same medication. The good news is that in the next few weeks, the federal government is going to publish updated prices online so you can compare thousands of different medicines. According to the New York Times, 60,000 different medications will be online at 75,000 pharmacies across the country. It’s going to be available at medicare.gov, and it will give you the cheapest location for the particular medication based on your zip code. In Clark’s research, he found that warehouse clubs usually beat the prices of most other places. But you’ll be able to see for yourself. You can also use the site as a reference to convince your local, neighborhood pharmacy to beat the price.

If your parents are 65 or older, Congress passed a Medicare prescription benefit last year that allows seniors to get a discount on prescriptions. The program isn’t going to start for a while, but, as a transition, seniors will get discount drug cards. But the AARP wants you to know that there are scam artists trying to dupe people with phony cards. The soonest cards are available will be this summer, and the discounts may be as little as high as 25 percent. The companies offering the legitimate cards have been approved by Medicare and will have an official Medicare seal on them. So, don’t pay anyone for a card until summer and you see the real seal on the cards. Clark will announce again when they are in circulation.

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Companies are also going to start tagging medicines with RFID technology. These are radio frequency tags that will verify that a medicine was made in a laboratory and will display when it was made. It will take a couple years to phase in, but you will know exactly where your medicines have been. The FDA is pushing this because the agency s