There goes that evil Wal-Mart again. This time, the devilish retailer is marshaling its commercial clout to deliver lower prices on hundreds of prescription drugs to millions of customers. As a result, patients, both insured and uninsured, will be able to buy generic medications for asthma, high blood pressure, allergies, and a host of other ailments for $4 for a month’s supply of each drug. The reduced price will represent savings of as much as 50% off the current costs. The discounting starts today in Tampa and will spread throughout Florida in the near future. The chain eventually plans to expand the discounted prices to other states. Now, if only the City Council would welcome Wal-Mart to New York.

The move is further evidence of the way Wal-Mart is changing America’s retail landscape to the benefit of consumers. The company is not discussing the specifics of its arrangements that permit it to sell at such low prices, but it will say that the reductions are possible as a result of the same business model that allows Wal-Mart to deliver “everyday low prices” on so many other goods, a spokesman for the company, David Tovar, tells us. Mr. Tovar cites the retailer’s logistics systems that deliver products to stores as cheaply as possible as an example of how Wal-Mart will be able to reduce prices on generic drugs. No doubt it’s using its negotiating muscle with drug makers, too.

Better Wal-Mart do that in the context of the free market than that the government do it in the form of price controls, we’d say, but can everyone at least agree that lower prices on vital medications for ailing and elderly Americans are a good thing? Not by a long shot. Already anti-Wal-Martniks are showing their chops in comments on the Web log of Wal-Mart Watch, a union-financed anti-Wal-Mart group. “Let’s see how the generic drug makers are going to be forced by Wal-Mart to cut corners so that Wal-Mart can sell cheap drugs,” a user identifying himself as “evilwalmart”opined.”Wal-Marts (sic) new health initiative appears to be thicker lipstick on the pig,” one “john in california” wrote.

Wal-Mart’s competitors in the prescription marketplace are certainly feeling the pressure. Stock prices for chains like CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreen’s were down yesterday. If that’s because they aren’t as good at providing important products at the best prices, then it’s hard to see why they deserve a protected spot in the market. Wal-Mart’s behavior certainly isn’t predatory, it says in response to critics. Mr. Tovar assures us Wal-Mart will make a profit on the drug sales, meaning the retailer isn’t exploiting its size to sell the medicines below cost just to bring shoppers into the stores wherein to tempt them with more profitable products.

It’s just efficient, and customers win. Except, that is, for customers in New York City, which finds itself without Wal-Mart thanks to a city law ostensibly designed to force large retailers to provide health care for their employees but actually intended to keep Wal-Mart out. In one of the city’s many ironies, ordinary residents will now find themselves paying more for some prescription drugs than people in other cities thanks to a law that supporters claimed would improve healthcare options for New Yorkers. Wal-Mart’s new program is cause for celebration in many parts of the country. It will be cause for reflection in the five boroughs.