Need articulate arguement re: Walmart

[Comrade Corinna]

WalMart has recently furthered its reputation of "low-low" prices by offering $4 prescriptions and claiming to help lower class people with their medicine needs.
This has made some of my left-leaning friends that Walmart is good, and that a market economy really is the best and most efficient system.

I am hoping some of you know more about this situation, because all I have to rely on for arguement is gut feeling- I am skeptical of this move by Walmart and think that it is either some kind of scam, or a sneaky way of gaining more profit. Can anyone help me with this?

[LSD]

OK, first of all this "4$ plan" is not exactly what it appears to be. This new plan wil offer prescriptions for as low as 4$, but most drugs will still cost far more than that.

Not to mention that this plan only applies to a select group of drugs, namely 291 drugs that currently have generic alternatives.

These are drugs that are already relatively cheap and which are currently losing market share to newer patented drugs. Slashing these drugs' prices doesn't signficantly harm Wal-Mart as people aren't really buying them anyway.

With the exception of the obvious mainstays (codeine, ibuprofen, etc..) doctors tend not to prescribe old drugs and patients tend not to want them. Consumer marketing and heavy physician lobbying by the major pharmaceutical companies ensure that both doctor and patient only want the newest and "best".

And even though many patented drugs are nothing more than "analogues" of generic alternatives (meaning they do exactly the same thing), prescriptions still inevitably drift towards the newer option.

And Wal-Mart is not slashing its prices on those drugs.

That means that, despite appearances, 90% of prescriptions sales will be unaffected by this measure and people will stil pay through the nose for their drugs ...although they'll think that they're getting a better deal.

And for anyone who claims that this news represents some "victory" of the free market, remind them that drug prices across the board in socialized price-controlled Canada are still a fraction of the American price.

The profit motive can help to reduce prices, but taking the profit out of the equation reduced it even further.

[Janus]

These are drugs that are already relatively cheap
They are cheaper than name-brands but depending on the quantity, there's not that much of a difference.

Also, in addition to what Ace said, you have to keep in mind that sometimes, people have to buy the name brands.