Walmart saves….

…you hundreds of dollars on your monthly prescription bill with their revolutionary generic medication program AND

…millions of people from walking around with blood pressure so high, you’d be amazed that they haven’t had a stroke yet. 

…families from having to choose between buying their medications or buying groceries.

AND most importantly, Walmart saves you from having to struggle yet again to stick to your healthy living program and I truly believe that Walmart’s $4 prescription generic drug program saves lives!!

I see it everyday. 

Elderly people who have Medicare but may not have adequate prescription coverage to pay for the medications they need.

Working parents who may not have health insurance offered to them because they don’t work full-time or even if they do work full-time, can’t afford the monthly premiums and survive, so they opt to forgo health insurance and hope for the best.

Or your “forever students” who are too old to still be on their parents insurance but clearly can’t afford to purchase their own individual health insurance policies.

And even if you’re fortunate enough to have insurance, you may not have adequate coverage to afford all the medications you need for your blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, cholesterol or heart disease.

These $4 prescriptions are for generic drugs….drugs that are no longer under pharmaceutical patent and therefore can be manufactured at various plants and cost signficantly less than their brand or trade name counterparts. 

But before switching from a brand name drug to a generic drug, discuss any potential side effects or change in drug strength with your doctor.  Your doctor will be able to answer your questions regarding whether the generic version of the drug is right for you and your situation. 

If you’ve been walking around with blood pressure as high as 250/130 (with normal blood pressure being 120/80) and you haven’t heard about Walmart’s $4 prescription program…then ask you doctor.  Don’t wait another minute, another hour or another day before discussing your future health with your doctor. 

Just because you don’t have insurance, doesn’t mean you don’t need or deserve to be treated for your medical condition.  If your symptoms are so severe that you don’t know how you’re going to get out of bed or make it through the day, head to your local emergency department for urgent evaluation.  If they prescribe a medication and you wonder if you can afford it, speak up and ask….”Is a generic available?”  and “How much will it cost?” 

Some doctors don’t even know about the $4 prescription program at Walmart especially if they don’t regularly see patients who don’t have insurance or can’t afford to buy their medications.  And I’m always amazed at the increasing number of different medications that are continually added to the growing list of available drugs.  Check out www.walmart.com and click on the pharmacy tab to view the updated list of $4 prescription drugs. 

Help…and medication assistance….is right around the corner at your local Walmart pharmacy.

You will need a written prescription from your doctor for these generic drugs but the true price of spending a few hours in the doctor’s office is priceless when compared to spending your life with uncontrolled and dangerously high blood pressure, blood sugar or cholesterol.

So the next time you pass by a Walmart or Super Walmart, stop and think about all the many lives that are being touched with just $4 a month.

To your wellness,

Dr. Traci Ferguson, The Health and Wellness Queen

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 at 6:32 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.