In order for a pharmacy to accept any plan, insurance or discount, the pharmacy contracts with a claims processor. The pharmacist must use a processor to determine the amount a consumer or insurance company will need to pay. The discounted price with the Co-op Connections Card is the same amount as what the pharmacist gets paid as a reimbursement from an insurance carrier. However, the processor charges for the use of their system, hence the processing fee. The processing fee is a usual practice for both discount and insured business. The difference is how the money flows. When a pharmacist receives their reimbursement back from the insurance company, the processing fee has already been deducted and the pharmacy receives a net amount. Since there is no claim involved in the discount process the processing fee needs to be collected by the processor directly from the pharmacy. The member pays the amount that includes the cost of the drug and the dispensing/processing fee. This processing fee will vary from drug to drug and pharmacy to pharmacy, depending on how the pharmacy contracted with the processor. Each pharmacy location or chain signs agreements with network processors and these fees are outlined in those agreements. Again, the difference is that under the discount program the dispensing/processing fee needs to be collected from the pharmacy.