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Message: <blockquote data-quote="vvvvvvv" data-source="post: 1904209" data-attributes="member: 5151">This.A lot of big box retailers like Walgreens use loss leaders to get you in the store to buy other seriously overpriced goods. Up until maybe 10 years ago, it was hard to find an item in the grocery section of Wal-Mart that had any positive margin at all. Then recently, they did the $4 generic prescriptions, many of which had negative margins. Why? So they could get you to go over to toys, sporting goods, or hardware and buy something on an endcap with a 200+% markup while on rollback.Walgreens gets you in by having some insane bargains outside the pharmacy. And most people aren't going to bother to shop for their prescriptions because they think that they are the same price everywhere, especially when they look at those "you saved" statements they get from their insurance provider later.When I was considering going without insurance and just paying the fines and investing the difference myself, I did a lot of calling around to independent pharmacies and independent doctors to find out what the cash-on-the-counter cost would be for the services that I need (annual checkup to renew prescription for asthma meds, and fill asthma meds). A couple of the independents (I don't recall which ones) were at or just a little below my co-pay for a cash visit. For a while, my prescription copay was just a few dollars below the cash price on my asthma meds.</blockquote>