Imagine your parents and grandparents were pharmacists serving the same community through the years. You follow in their footsteps. The passion for pharmacy in general, is passed down. The knowledge of entire generations of health and socio-economic challenges and needs of families within the community are also passed down.
Suddenly, over 40 years, the market rapidly monopolized. The insurance companies own the pharmacies and the pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). PBMs reimburse competitor pharmacies purposefully below costs or steer to their own retail or mail order pharmacy. This is the case for Aetna, which has merged with CVS, CVS Specialty, and CVS Caremark. Due to this issue, pharmacies nationwide are on the brink of closure.
Please hear for yourself this is the tearful story told to legislators in Florida by a Florida pharmacist. You can watch here.
"I’ve been a practicing independent pharmacist for almost 40 years and can speak to the experience of the abusive and predatory practices of PBM's such as steering and generic effective rates. In 2011 because of financial struggles, the continuous lowering of reimbursement rates, and the steering of our patients to mandatory mail order for maintenance medications, we were forced to close both of our Jackson's drug stores that served rural communication in Monticello in Greenville, Florida. Guess who was there to come guess who was there to come to the rescue? The same pharmacy owned by the PBM that implemented this practice. You can imagine how those negotiations went. Patient access has been affected by this because there is still not an independent pharmacy providing quality care in Monticello."
Many pharmacists will face retaliation for being this vocal in the form of abusive audits. Some may be audited out of business by the same corporations engaging in these unethical practices.
Please listen to their words as warnings that if we continue to allow for conflicts of interest and monopolization of the industry, America's entire pharmaceutical care and medication access will be further at risk.
Large employers and America's government must be met face to face with the reality of the destruction that is being done to America's health care access as corporations merge and continue to monopolize the entire healthcare industry. As long as they allow for heath plans to use their power to further monopolize the industry and remove patient choice, the safety and affordability of America's medication access will continue to decline.
Corporations will consistently put profits above the needs of communities. In America, the survival of individual pharmacies is necessary for our survival. We need to support and fight for them.
Thank you for your support,
Loretta Boesing, Patient Advocate
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Email loretta@uniteforsafemeds.com