Drug insurers dispense warning

Dispensing fees are making the news again. It's disheartening but not unexpected that the fee is not judged on value of service received, just on the dollar figure. I love the line in there from CUPE stating to use mail order pharmacy but not at the expense of closing down local pharmacies. Nice try to cover all the bases, but I don't see how what they suggest is possible. Any Rx filled via mail order would potentially hurt a local pharmacy or am I missing something?

From the Halifax Chronicle Herald:
Drug-dispensing fees are one of the latest targets in the battle to reduce health insurance costs.

Some insurance providers are now advising employers to alert staff to the widely varying fees charged by drugstores to fill prescriptions.

For example, in 2005, Nova Scotia pharmacies charged between $4.42 and $11.74 to fill a prescription, a Manulife Financial survey found. The fees also varied within chains such as Shoppers Drug Mart and Sobeys. ...more