Those of us on fixed incomes suffer

Thank you for your excellent Aug. 2 article titled: “No clear prescription” regarding the Arlington Pharmacy no longer accepting medical coupons. It was a real public service, as the pharmacy in question did not even bother to inform their long-time customers of this change in policy prior to putting it into action. At least now I have time to find an alternative pharmacy which will accept my coupons when it is time to have my medications refilled.

As you may know, some of us receiving medical coupons must re-qualify every six months. To do this, we need to meet what they call a spend-down requirement. I had to spend or run up medical bills totaling $300 before my medical benefits would be reinstated. So for the last month, I have been paying cash for my prescriptions at the Arlington Pharmacy. I was horrified at the prices they were charging and checked them against the online drug stores’ prices. For instance, I was charged $66.95 for a month’s supply of my diabetic medicine. The price for the same amount, same dosage of this drug at Drugstore.com (an affiliate of Rite-Aid) was listed as $16.20. Arlington Pharmacy was charging me (and trying to charge the state, I assume) more than four times that price. So there is more here than meets the eye.

I am very angry about this because most of my neighbors (I live in a senior housing development) do not qualify for medical coupons and they have been charged these exorbitant prices for their prescriptions every month. I have little sympathy for Mr. Duskin (owner of the Arlington Pharmacy) who says he can’t operate his business on what Medicaid pays him. If I continued to fill my prescriptions at his pharmacy (without my coupons) it would take over half of my monthly income. There should be a limit as to what these independent pharmacies can charge their customers, most of whom are on fixed incomes.

Arlington

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