This small-town pharmacy may be a model for more affordable drugs

STAUNTON, Va. — Honest Rx operates like any other pharmacy in the United States — with one big exception. It does not accept health insurance.

Pharmacist and owner Matthew Garner opened his business in 2022, after over 20 years of working in and managing other pharmacies. In that time, companies like CVS have become behemoths by merging with pharmacy benefit managers and insurers.

Garner observed how chain pharmacies, insurers, and pharmacy benefit managers obscured the true cost of drugs, so he set out to open a pharmacy with a wholly transparent business model that supplies affordable medication directly to patients. Garner sells most medications at wholesale cost plus 20% and a $6.50 dispensing fee.

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