Discount Drug Cards Painful for Pharmacies.

By Leslie Berestein, The San Diego Union-Tribune Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

May 6--As seniors snap up the new Medicare prescription discount cards that became available this week, independent pharmacists are worried about having to pick up the brunt of the savings to consumers.

Pharmacies must absorb part of the cost of the card program, which offers seniors savings of 10 percent to 25 percent on prescription drugs. But while large chain-store pharmacies can offset any potential bottom-line losses with sales of non-pharmacy items, small pharmaci