State Web site lets consumers find lowest preion prices
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Patchogue
Giovanni Rosso
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Giovanni Rosso
By MICHAEL GORMLEY
Associated Press Writer
August 17, 2004, 7:50 PM EDT
ALBANY, N.Y. -- A new state Web site will help consumers faced with high preion prices save up to $100 on a single drug purchase while driving down the market price.
State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer launched the site (
http://www.NYAGRx.org) Tuesday. A help line is also provided for those without computers (800-771-7755, option No. 3.)
The website allows consumers to shop online for a preion, giving comparisons by store, address and price throughout the state. Although not comprehensive, Spitzer said the information covers 170 pharmacies including major chains in 25 counties. It will be updated at least monthly.
New Mexico and Maryland have sites that post different prices at stores, but New York's site is the only interactive one that allows consumers to target stores within a few miles of their home or workplace, according to Spitzer's office. The site uses prices that all drug stores must report under state law on common drugs.
Spitzer demonstrated the site Tuesday and found a price difference of $100 and more for the same preion in stores a few miles apart.
New Yorkers with comprehensive preion care could also benefit by lower copay costs for lower-cost drugs, Spitzer said.
Spitzer said consumers can also use the information to bargain a matching price from their regular pharmacy.
For example, the site found that in the Binghamton area the cost of 250 mg of Lamisil for foot fungus ranged from $250 in one store to $372 in another nearby. In New York City, the cost of the allergy relief medicine Allegra ranged from $47 to $144.
"It's useful, it's easy, it's precisely what consumers can use to get the biggest bang for the buck," Spitzer said.
Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group praised the Web site, saying a proposal for a similar site that would have included all drug stores statewide was defeated in the state Assembly following pressure from drug store chains.
Michael Burgess, head of the Statewide Senior Action Council, said free competition fostered by the Web site drives prices down and counters a market that manipulates prices.
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On the Net:
http://www.oag.state.ny.us
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--preiondrugs0817aug17,0,3946288.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire
