What is going on with the pharmacies and the fraud of the pharmacist? Many people in the southern region have been making complaints of the excessive rise in the co-pay and the price hike of the medications. Take for example the brand name and generic and some of the pharmacies have hiked the price up of the generic as the same as none brand names. Some have even cut down on the quantity of pills and still charging prices as if you got a valve of 25 pills but only receiving 10. Most of the boards of health don't pay the complaints any attention and the pharmacist are allowed to continue this practice with impunity. Community, some of these people are struggling as it is, I mean struggling tremendously to survive, and have to now put up with scam artist behind these counters who are diluting medications cutting the potency and are making much money. It's causing the consumer to return for more medication than he/she would normally have to because of these cutbacks and schemes. What else can these people do? Remember, their names are put into a network when they visit a pharmacy, so how can they be protected from these miserly pharmacist? Sometimes I feel us minute folk just will never stand a chance. Talk to me people, should you have the right to get your monies worth, and should something be done about these pharmacist who water down the product and still charge the same prices? There is a paradigm called customer satisfaction..., these people who are getting duped are not satisfied, but who will do something? Talk to me folks.

ArrackiFalconX10

Ok buddy, well I think first you need to get your facts straight. I'm a pharmacist so I will tell you how it is. When you pay a co-pay, that means you have insurance. The insurance company determines your co-pay, not the fraud pharmacist you state. The pharmacist has absolutely no control whatsoever the amount you pay nor the quantity you get if thats what the insurance company allows. So if you have a problem with it, call your insurance company. They give you a new pricing guideline each year that you sign up for your benefits at work, I suggest you read it so you know what to expect. Pharmacists as a whole do not "dilute" medications and potencies as you state. There are some cases when a primarily compounding pharmacy (that is a pharmacy that makes special orders by mixing ingredients together, not just given by the drug manufacturer) may have an unethical pharmacist that skims on the compound, but this is very rare and are usually caught.

The pharmacist is generally the middle man that takes the heat for prices that they don't make, unless you are paying pure cash without insurance, then you have a slight arguement. Just remember that next time your in. I know co-pays have gone up some, just like the price of milk, gas, bread, and most other things have gone up.

If you have any other things to say, please let me know, cause I'd like to answer them for you.

My fiancee is a pharmacy student. She complains to me about stupid people a lot. She likes her internships overall, but some people are just incorrigible. Some people simply will not believe her when she says she has no control over the co-pays.

If you have a grievance over drug prices and quality in America, you should blame big Pharma, and the insurance companies before the pharmacist. If you still don't believe me, you can go around to different pharmacies and see if the story is much different. Though there are some differences here too, you'll find the same overall problem with co-pays and high drug prices, so it's not the pharmacist.

The pharmaceutical industry is who spends an insane amount on marketing to convince people to spend exorbitant amounts on their next me-too drug, and then they pass the expense on to you while they make some of the highest profits of all industries (it was the highest in 2001 I think). This is possible because it's hard to say no to something your doctor and the DTC ads tell you that you need to live or live comfortably.