By Stacey Reed
The BYU Health Center Pharmacy offers more services than students are aware of – services that could save students more than a penny here and there when filling a prescription.
“I don”t think students understand that we”re here and that we are beginning to take insurance,” said Craig Swenson, BYU pharmacist at the BYU Health Center.
Fifteen of 90 said they would go to the BYU Health Center Pharmacy to fill a prescription.
The majority of students said they would go to a chain drug store like Smiths, Wal-Mart, Walgreens or Rite Aid.
Matt Scott, 21, a freshman majoring in music from Fielding, Utah, said the three most important factors in deciding where to go are proximity, reputation and price.
The BYU pharmacy, which is located in the health center, welcomes all BYU students and missionaries and assists customers without BYU insurance.
In addition, the pharmacy offers wholesale prices for its prescriptions, which tend to be much lower than competitive services.
This year, the pharmacy began accepting more than 10 different insurance plans for prescriptions.
In years before, Swenson said the pharmacy didn”t want to be insurance brokers, so they didn”t accept outside insurance.
But they decided to provide the service because of the many students with other insurance plans.
“The insurance plans we accept each year will be added upon as we see the need for it,” Swenson said.
As of now, the BYU Health Insurance plan doesn”t include coverage for prescription drugs.
“Because only a select few need prescriptions, the plan doesn”t cover prescription drugs,” Swenson said. “Most of the kids are relatively healthy; it wouldn”t be necessary to charge the students for something they may never use.”
Shane Carlson, 25, a BYU graduate student from Meridian, Idaho, studying mechanical engineering, spends approximately fifty dollars a month for his two prescriptions.
Carlson said the Pharmacy is always flexible with his refills and it provides competitive pricing for his specific medications.
“If I knew there were a place cheaper, then I might go there,” Carlson said. “But the health center is pretty cheap and fast.”
Mike Berntsen, owner of Provo Pharmacy, said people tend to go to the chains but don”t know they are paying more.
“People think they are cheaper, but they aren”t,” Berntsen said. “And they actually make more mistakes, take longer and treat their customers like sheep.”
Berntsen said his company offers fast and kind service to customers.
“You won”t wait longer than five minutes,” he said.
Swenson said the health center has to only cover its expenses, but stores like Rite Aid have to make profit and do so by charging more.
Mike Camp, pharmacy technician at Wal-Mart, said the profit margin is usually determined by the corporate offices, but mostly depends on the way the market is going.
“Prices can fluctuate a few cents or even a couple dollars depending on the market,” Camp said.
