Medicare drug plan brings more woes.(Brief Article)

Many independent drugstores are headed for financial disaster.The chaotic start to the Medicare drug program kept most independent pharmacists so busy trying to fill prescriptions for their customers at the right price that many didn't notice a dismaying problem: They're going broke.

America's 20,000 independents already have tiny profit marginsof just 1%-2%. Now the Medicare drug plan is socking it to them in two ways:

The new payments are smaller. Prices under the new Medicare plan are set by big pharmacy benefit managers, such as Medco Health Solutions I