A Dispensing Fee?

This is a bit annoying. One medication that our local pharmacy had been filling was costing us our typical $10 copay. We had had this refilled there once or twice when, we happened upon the fact that the prescription, when not run through our insurance plan would cost us about $4 at a number of other pharmacies! Now, I don't want to nitpick, but this is a problem. How can our pharmacy, a national chain, charge us double for meds by submitting it to our insurance company? Naturally, I was curious so I asked the pharmacist tonight when I was getting a more expensive prescription filled there. He explained to me that there is a $10.99 dispensing fee! I thought that's what a pharmacist does. He's a salaried employee and I don't suspect he sees a dime for all of his dispensing efforts. So no matter how little the prescription costs, we would be charged a minimum of $10. It's ridiculous, and the pharmacist thought so too. So now we have moved the prescriptions elsewhere and will consider taking some other meds to the new pharmacy as well. I won't reveal the pharmacy, but you Could Venture to Surmise which chain it is.