Do you want to destroy the economic clout of the pharmacy chains and the drug companies?

[liberaldemocrat7]

Use selective boycotts of Eckerd, CVS, and Walgreens. Then buy from the others. Demand from Eckerd, CVS, and Walgreens a universal single payer healthcare system and don't buy their consumer products nor get medications there until their CEOs get the congress and the president to enact such a law.

You can do it but you need to spread the word and band together. Vote with your purchasing power to get what you want. See my web page in the signature.

[northzax]

1. and they will do this...why?

to put themselves out of business?

[liberaldemocrat7]

2. They have a choice. Either lose our money now or lose it later.

We don't boycott every pharmacy chain. We boycott 3. Boycott the consumer items at minimum and also boycott the medication there too.

[napi21]

6. It wouldn't pu t them out of business. It would actually benefit them.

Right now, they get reimbursements frommultiple ins. co's. If all they had to file was ONE form to a single entity, the paperwork they'd save would benefit them in the hundres of thousands of dollars. Having to employ many people to process all these claims, and UNDERSTAND all the silliness of each co. is insane!

The same would happen if there were a single payer health care system. The current ins. companies would still process the claims, but the info and reimbursement would come from a single source, with one claim code. It not only would saveIns. companies, but Drs, and hospitals too. If there's a problem, you have ONE CONTACT!

[northzax]

11. except it would be the government

and they are fully aware of the headaches they get from working with government run insurance already (ask any pharmacist whether they would rather fill a scrip under Blue Cross or Medicare? both are pains in the asses.

[napi21]

17. I can't speak for pharmicists, but if you only get your $$ from one

place, it significatly reduces your paperwork, and the required knowledge to process claims.

I do know several Drs, and dealing with multiple ins companies & medicare is a nightmare! Each one has a different code for each procedure, different forms, and different requirements.

I know from personal experience what it't like dealing with ONE ins. company and multiple providers. I broke my ankle in Sept. I received multiple separate bills from the emergency dept., the hospital, the x-ray group, the attending physician, & the surgeon. I was actually told by the ins rep that the best way to see what I actually owed was to wait several months and see what shakes out! After all is said and done, I owe $2,500 which is MY 20% copay. It is such a screwed up system, I've never seen anything like it! I was a Accounting Director for many years, and the whole thing make me want to trash the entire system and start over from scratch.

[Donnachaidh]

3. who is left?

You just named the 3 largest drug companies in my area. The only one left is Walmart -- and I certainly don't want to buy through THEM.

[Warpy]

8. I ended up at Wally World when I got poor 4 years ago

because nobody in town could match their prices on my drugs. Even Costco was a bit more expensive (and a lot less convenient). I'm still with them because I've had eye surgery and try to keep my driving to a bare minimum. In fact, they're within scooter range.

I've found most of their other stuff to fall into the "false economy" range. I'd rather shop at the (unionized) supermarket across the street.

[TwilightZone]

4. You think that three chains can singlehandedly "demand" a single-payer HC system?

Yeah, right. Pharmacies don't run the healthcare system, in case you didn't notice.

I think your demands are a bit misguided, at best. Pharmaceutical companies are significantly more monetarily involved in the political process than those three pharmacy chains. If you're looking for someone to target, start there, then go after HMOs and insurance companies.

[TwilightZone]

5. And this will affect the drug companies how?

That's like saying that targeting Best Buy and CompUSA will destroy the economic clout of Microsoft.

[liberaldemocrat7]

7. Well there appears no shortage of defeatists at Depublican underground.

.

[TwilightZone]

10. Well, your suggestion doesn't make any sense.

You posted "Do you want to destroy the economic clout of the pharmacy chains and the drug companies?"...

and then provided exactly nothing that would affect the drug companies in any way.

If you boycott the three chains you mentioned, but still buy the same medications elsewhere, the net effect on the drug companies is ZERO.

[blondeatlast]

15. The "No free Lunch" campaign is having some effect right where it hurts big pharma

the most: http://www.nofreelunch.org/

Anyone who has spent as much time in doctors' offices as I have (being treated for several chronic conditions) can testify to the power of the pusher...

[Donnachaidh]

12. Not being a defeatist -- my question was VALID.

I don't like Walmart's policy towards their employees. I avoid the place like the plague. And the three you ask us to boycott have very effectively driven out the small corner drugstore in my area.

So AGAIN I ask YOU -- what options do *I* have? :rant:

[Az]

18. There is being a defeatist and then there is recognising the issues

Boycots are seldom effective any longer. For the simple fact that we no longer have control of the means of conveying such information to the general public. The corporations have figured out that they can dismantle boycots simply by cutting off their oxygen (in this case communication). To this end they simply do not talk about boycots in the news or media. Even though the news is supposed to serve us and not them.

Your first problem is to figure out how to make a boycot effective. No matter how much energy and positive thinking you put into it you will not dent their bottom line with the limited numbers you can reach. Even with the net at your disposal.

[Az]

9. Boycots only work by means of communication

And without the media providing an effective communication route any attempts to boycot a company will be thwarted by an inability to get the word out. You could have everyone on every political activist board you are a part of partake in this boycot and it would not impact the pharmacueticals bottom line. The Corporate media has effectively stolen our airwaves and denied us the utilization of them as they are contractually obligated to. They are required by law to provide news and information services for the people but instead have turned the news into a profit arm and misinformation branch of the corporate society.

[blondeatlast]

13. "Just Say No to Drug Reps" is a far more effective campaign

already in gear. Ask your doctors to sign the "No Free Lunch"Pledge: http://www.nofreelunch.org/

More bang for the buck and right where it hurts, too.

BTW, NFL is also very involved with the push for a single payer, universal health plan.

[northzax]

14. a better bet

in reality is to refuse to take a brand name drug if there is an equivalent generic. Tell your doctor you refuse to take brand name medication unless she can convince you that it is significantly better, and therefore worth the additional cost, than the generic.

[bicentennial_baby]

16. How will this hurt drug companies?

There's no shortage of pharmacies or DRs willing to prescribe, y'know...And also, how will these chains bring about Single Payer Healthcare? Do you *really* think you're proposing something that's in any way, um, realistic?