How did we ever allow for patients to be forced to Better Business Bureau's 1-star or F-rated pharmacies in America?
Most do not want to be forced to ONE pharmacy or mail-order pharmacy for medications as the only option of coverage for life-saving medications.
The legislators who can stop this are failing Americans and taxpayers. Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) such as CVS Caremark Optum RX and Express Scripts own the mail-order pharmacies that many are forced to use. They contribute massive record sums into lobbying our elected officials and most republicans and democrats accept campaign contributions from them.
How will our voices ever be heard?
Even the stocks of the F-rated BBB PBMs and pharmacies continue to increase with such poor performance. Obviously, their performance isn’t based upon the treatment of the patients and caregivers. Their success is due mostly to the prioritization of their profits at any cost.
Many of the medications that are being forced to mail-order pharmacy are the most critical of medications. PBMs and their mail-order pharmacies will often classify medications as specialty drugs and force medications to be sent to their specialty mail-order pharmacy as they remove all coverage for the medications to be filled at independent pharmacies, competitor’s specialty pharmacies, & hospital pharmacies.
For example, our family prefers the pediatric hospital pharmacy. They work closely with my son’s physicians, timely, and I don’t have to take risk of damaged or misplaced shipments that have already put my son's life at jeopardy twice. His medications are his life. His life relies on medications every 12 hours. I argue that there isn’t a safer place for us to receive our child’s medications than the pediatric hospital pharmacy. Upon losing the coverage and being force to mail-order, his life was immediately at risk. Patients' lives depend on the choice in pharmacy and safe access.
With over 164,000 supporters on our petition, our legislators refuse to hear our voices. For example Governor Cuomo in New York could save many lives of New Yorkers with the legislation that is sitting on his desk. Does he even see us?
Several other states are trying to pass legislation to reign in on pharmacy benefit managers, but Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) continues to press back ensuring that our voices will not be heard and that our lives and the lives of our children will continue to be risked for the profits of a billion-dollar industry.
To the legislators who fail to protect us, we challenge our elected officials to only stay at 1-star hotels and to only eat at 1-star restaurants in memory of the patients and caregivers who they refuse to stand up for as they allow for patients lives to be risked with the forcing to one-star or F-rated pharmacies.
We must keep demanding safer options in our coverage.
Thank you to those who have signed and shared the petition.
Other ways to help:
Share your issues and concerns with mail-order pharmacy: loretta@uniteforsafemeds.com
Make a donation to our nonprofit: Unite for Safe Medications
Urge your representatives to pass the legislation to regulate PBMs and to stop the forcing of mail-order pharmacy.