Corporate pissing match leaves many scrambling to find a pharmacy

[KamaAina]

or, Reason #84,572 We Need Single Payer Now.

http://www.mercurynews.com/health/ci_19957583

The falling out occurred between Walgreens and Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit manager that in 2010 did $44 billion worth of business. Health insurers and employers hire such firms to lower costs by negotiating discounts with pharmacies.

But last year, the two could not agree on a contract.

The result: On Jan. 1, millions of Walgreens customers whose insurers are affiliated with Express Scripts had to switch pharmacies.

Among those affected were members of certain Anthem Blue Cross plans, the TRICARE program for military members, and some Medi-Cal managed plans.

This is fairly close to Armageddon here in the Bay Area, where Walgreens are nearly as common as 7-11s. One two-block stretch of Market St. in downtown SF has three! And downtown San Jose has no other pharmacy; the Safeway there doesn't have one.

[northoftheborder]

1. Fortunately, my small town has an HEB pharmacy, and a Walmart (which I do not patronize).

I can see how this would be very inconvenient for millions of people.

[MANative]

2. My hubby works for a Walgreen's-owned drug store chain in NY...

which was supposed to operate totally autonomously after the buy-out about a year ago. Of course, as I told him when it was finalized, corporate creep would happen, and it did. Now, this small chain has to adhere to all of these bigger corporate decisions, and this one has been a disaster. This move away from ExpressScripts has created all kinds of problems for his customers and they've lost a good amount of business over it. He was furious about it, because so many of his "regulars" are poor, elderly, or otherwise challenged. They've instituted their own "drug plan" but you have to pay to join, and many of these folks can't afford the annual $25 fee. Sucks totally.