Hi everyone, Please start listening to this state Senate video at the 1 hour and 46-minute mark. In order to be effective, we must know what we are up against such as large billion dollar corporations, their associations, and their "spin."
This week the Virginia HB 2223 died as many voted no. The bill could go to joint commissions but most bills don't. The bill would have given patients options in their coverage to choose the pharmacy of their choice and to be able to receive their medications the safest way, at the pharmacy at which it is filled.
Scott Newman speaking on behalf of the Virginia Pharmacy Association and Pharmacist United for Truth and Transparency tried to take a stand for us, informing the Senate, "OUR PATIENTS LIVES DEPENDS ON CHOICE."
Several pharmacists who are fighting fiercely to keep their pharmacy doors open repeated the same concerns. Then, one community pharmacist approached the stand with his daughter standing beside him. He recently had to close the doors to their pharmacy due to the anticompetitive actions of pharmacy benefit managers such as Express Scripts, Optum RX, and CVS due to forced mail-order and low reimbursements.
I thought for sure the Senate would hear the voice of Mary Curtis a pharmacist with several transplant patients whose lives depend on medications every 12 hours. She shared with the Senate that several of her patients do not receive medications on time. When this happens, many have to either pay the 100% which most cannot do or risk losing the transplant that they've worked so hard to get.
Another pharmacist stepped to the stand to voice his concerns for the elderly.
Then, came the spin of the Pharmacy Benefit Managers and their Associations who obviously believe that patients lives and human suffering are not worth taking the appropriate actions to ensure patients lives are protected and they have access to the face-to-face relationship with their pharmacist. Profits seem to override their ability to protect us.
Doug Gray from the Virginia Association of Health Plans started by saying, patients already have a choice and it's against the law to force patients to mail-order, BUT He refused to tell the Senate though that most of these patients would have to pay 100% to use that choice. For most who cannot afford to pay 100% or thousands of dollars for their life-saving medication, mail-order is forced.
Then came Scott Woods from PCMA, the association for Pharmacy Benefit Managers (Express Scripts, Optum, & CVS). From personal experience in research, PCMA has proven time and time again to put corporate profits before patients. Part of his discussion mentioned that if patients were allowed to use their local pharmacist in their coverage it would cost the PBMs more because they were getting discounts for buying in bulk. He even mentioned rising drug cost, but with the recent news of PBMs being a major reason for the rising drug cost, how was the Senate not prepared to know better?
This is why we see stories like this one about how the medication was cheaper to pay out of pocket than pay the copay or the stories like this one of PBMs caught with price gouging millions of dollars from state Medicaid plans such as reported on in the Columbus Dispatch Side Effects Investigation.
Scott Woods mentioned the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) Saying that the FTC has stopped such laws in the past. I argue that thae BEAST that the FTC would see today is unlike anything else in our history. Monopolies drown out the competition. That is exactly what is happening here. What does it do when these PBMs, who are now in charge of reimbursements and access force us to their owned mail-order pharmacy as they are in charge of millions of people's lives and now 3 own 80% of the market? Then, for the medications we are allowed to fill at the local pharmacy, they are not reimbursing them fairly. In fact, our pharmacies often end in the red without profits.
SPEAKING OF FTC, WHERE IS THE FTC? WHY ARE THEY NOT PROTECTING THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES, THEIR COMMUNITY PHARMACISTS, AND THE PATIENTS BEING HARMED BY FORCED MAIL-ORDER PHARMACY.
Another association member stepped to the stand to speak, stating PBMs couldn't pay independent pharmacist the low rate paid to mail-order because it would be too low, and they couldn't pay them more because that would drive up the cost.
Not long after, the community pharmacist who had earlier stepped up to the stand with his daughter by his side said, "I would be happy to take the lower mail-order pharmacy reimbursement." See, most community pharmacies are not in this to get rich. They just want to be able to help their community and support their families.
I personally found out that the PBM who oversees reimbursements and forced us to their own mail-order pharmacy reimbursed themselves about $180 for the same medication they reimbursed my son's trusted hospital pharmacy about $20 for.
I sadly feel as though the Senate only listed to the large corporations. I feel they let down their constituents and most of the patients in the United States of America as they had an opportunity to take a stand for us.
This is happening across our nation. It's why your voice is a crucial part of the missing piece of this puzzle. It's time that we unite and speak loudly. Please don't delay.
If you are willing to be someone to start speaking to your regulators about this issue or to even share your story, please let me know.
Thank you so much for your support. Sharing this issue, advocating on this issue and reaching out to your officials will save lives.
Please keep up the good fight with me! Continue signing and sharing the petition. Your help can save lives.
Thank you,
Loretta Boesing
Email:stopmandatorymailorderpharmacy@yahoo.com
Facebook: Issues with Mail-Order Pharmacy
Twitter: @BoesingLoretta
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