Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) latest expansion of its generic drug program represents more of the same despite the company's promise on Friday to make a “major health care announcement.” Nonetheless, the company’s latest comments shed additional light on the true economics of the program. Click here to see the complete list of eligible drugs.
Here are some high level points about Wal-Mart’s generic program.
More Volume = Lower Cost of Dispensing. Way back in my still-valid December 2006 analysis, I predicted that Wal-Mart would benefit from the program by generating incremental prescription volume for its relatively underutilized pharmacies. Wal-Mart senior vice president John Agwunobi confirmed my view yesterday in this Associated Press story, saying: “It also offers us the ability to add capacity to our pharmacies without adding people."
Wal-Mart’s generics are not loss leaders. Last October, I compared Wal-Mart’s retail generic prices to average acquisition costs and found average gross margins of 24%. These calculations dramatically underestimate Wal-Mart’s actual gross margin because Wal-Mart's product acquisition costs are much lower than the independents, supermarkets, and small chains that buy through wholesalers.
State governors love this program. Medicaid does not pay more than a cash customer at a given pharmacy because a pharmacy can not be reimbursed by Medicaid for more than its Usual & Customary charge. Thus, states pay less whenever Wal-Mart fills a Medicaid generic script for which Wal-Mart’s retail price is below the Medicaid reimbursement rate. State revenues are declining due to the economic slowdown, making Wal-Mart look good.
Cash-pay customers also love the program. Wal-Mart is offering a great value for uninsured and under-insured patients, a point that I made in the Financial Times on Monday. In contrast, consumers with third-party insurance do not save much versus standard co-pays, which is why chains such as CVS Caremark (CVS) or Walgreens (WAG) are not very vulnerable to Wal-Mart’s program.
Price shoppers are fans, too. There are wide and apparently persistent variations in pharmacy prices for many common, high volume generics. (See The Price Might Be Right.) Wal-Mart’s program simplifies the search process, especially for elderly Part D participants trying to stay below the donut hole. (See Part D and Generics.)
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Curiously, NCPA declined to issue its usual denunciation about how Wal-Mart’s program is a “classic bait-and-switch” (9/28/06) or “devaluing and destroying the practice of pharmacy” (9/27/07). Perhaps the surviving independents have figured out how to coexist with Wal-Mart, as implied by 2007’s unexpected growth at independent pharmacies?
