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As Ontario’s drug war between Big Pharma and the government heats up, The Teamsters Member’s Pharmacy has nothing but good news.

Mississauga:   In 2007, when Larry McDonald, then President of Teamsters Local 938 was told by his insurance provider to expect a 27% increase in drug costs, he decided enough was enough. It was time to be proactive and fight back. Fed up with soaring health care costs to his membership, McDonald decided to go into the drug business himself. He opened up his own member’s pharmacy and located it right in the organizations headquarters in Mississauga and the Teamsters Local has not looked back. “However, we’re different” he says. “You won’t be able to purchase a chocolate bar or shaving cream at this pharmacy. We only offer prescription drugs.”

Teamsters Local 938 joined forces with Sav-Rx Prescription Services Canada, an organization that was founded in 1966 and is a leading national provider of managed care prescription services. Sav-Rx currently serves over 11 million customers throughout North America. The local’s 10,000 strong membership who need access to the common, everyday prescription drugs that many Canadian families require in their daily lives can now venture into the pharmacy and literally leave their wallets at home. No dispensing or administration fees, no co-pays, not even delivery charges are the order of the day. And certainly no paying the pharmacy first and waiting for reimbursement. Those who haven’t the time to visit the pharmacy can have their prescribing physician make the call and the order will be delivered to their workplace, in many cases same day, or mailed to their home.

The Member’s Pharmacy stocks generic drugs that are no different as far as quality, purity, effectiveness and safety than the higher-priced name brands. But the cost savings can be significant. As an example, a common medication for cholesteral control, Lipitor, (40MG 30 Tab) costs the plan plus the member at retail $89.98. The generic alternative, called Simvastatin costs the plan at the Sav-Rx Pharmacy only $22.39 or a whopping 75% savings. The member pays nothing. Doctor insisted requests for brand names or where a generic drug is not available are also still available to members at the Teamsters Member’s Pharmacy. As well, it provides many of the typical services a large retail chain will offer including a 24/7 customer service centre and members have access to a pharmacist during normal work hours for advice on common issues such as drug to drug interactions, duplicate drug therapy and inadequate or excessive dosage. The Sav-Rx Drug Utilization Review service allows on-line monitoring of every prescription purchased through the system so transactions can be tracked easily and quickly.

“We’re certainly not threatening to close or shorten our pharmacy hours, cut services or increase dispensing and delivery charges” says Teamsters Local 938 President Craig McInnes. “Everything is status quo. In fact, we are anticipating an increase in our pharmacy business this year as new members come on board. Our initial objective with this initiative was to provide more responsible administration of their health care costs for our members and this is certainly a step in the right direction.” McInnes cites a major bonus that is definitely a good news plus for their operation. “The more important benefit is that the money we save is going back into the local union’s trust fund which builds the treasury in the long term and will provide added bargaining power at the negotiation table come contract time. By lowering employee health care costs, (which are commonly the key issue and the highest overall increase in the bargaining process) we can ask the employer to consider adding to our member’s wages and pensions instead. This becomes a win-win for both sides” he adds.

In the two years of the small pharmacy’s operation, the trust fund has saved its drug costs over $400,000. “Our pharmacy is a quick in and out, unlike the typical 10-20 minute wait in a retail outlet where you are captive and therefore likely to shop for other needs while your prescription is being filled.” McInnes concludes.

Is this a trend for the future? Larry McDonald, now Teamsters’ Unions Administration Services President argues that with an aging population and the soaring cost of health care throughout North America, something has to give. “I believe that this is a concept that will no doubt generate much more interest by both union and non-union organizations alike as more awareness of the potential success is created” he states. “Our experience in setting up the pharmacy was a relatively simple process while the added value to our members has been positive and financially significant”.