Harris Teeter, the North Carolina-based supermarket chain with 177 stores in the southeastern United States, has matched discount price programs at Wal-Mart, CVS, Target, Walgreens and Kroger, announcing that it is now offering customers a 90-day supply of over 300 generic drugs for $9.99.

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Harris Teeter, the North Carolina-based supermarket chain with 177 stores in the southeastern United States, has matched discount price programs at Wal-Mart, CVS, Target, Walgreens and Kroger, announcing that it is now offering customers a 90-day supply of over 300 generic drugs for $9.99.

Customers must purchase a $5 drug savings card, good for one year, to take advantage of the discount. The plan doesn’t apply to prescriptions covered by insurance.

We welcome the continuing trend toward low-cost generics. It’s good to see some real price competition over prescription drugs, something that was sorely lacking before Wal-Mart announced its $4 generic drug program.

Unfortunately, the millions of Americans who are struggling to pay their prescription drug bills each month know that the problem has never been generic medication, but brand-name drugs that aren’t among the 300 to 400 on the lists of the discount retailers.

That’s the problem that Wal-Mart can’t solve. Only the government can fix that one.