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re: What is this doom text I just received from CVS pharmacy about PBM's?
Posted on 6/11/25 at 9:53 pm to Shexter
Posted on 6/11/25 at 9:53 pm to Shexter
frick CVS. They aren’t closing every store in Arkansas and Louisiana like they’re threatening to do and many more states will be adopting the same law.
They’re just butt hurt their monopoly is over. Will have to spin off the pharmacies from Caremark insurance which they own and use to reimburse under the cost of the drug at every other pharmacy while paying themselves higher rates for the same drugs. I hope their entire board and their lobbyists choke on a bag of dicks.
They’re just butt hurt their monopoly is over. Will have to spin off the pharmacies from Caremark insurance which they own and use to reimburse under the cost of the drug at every other pharmacy while paying themselves higher rates for the same drugs. I hope their entire board and their lobbyists choke on a bag of dicks.
1
Posted on 6/11/25 at 9:56 pm to Shexter
Frick the PBMs. Pharmacy worked just fine before they came in and consolidated everything. Sure as hell ain’t cheaper. And then you get to wait 30 minutes
Posted on 6/11/25 at 9:57 pm to GeauxDoc
quote:
If you have access to a local pharmacy I just can’t imagine why anyone would opt for using a big box pharmacy
because the small local ones have shite hours, and usually have some kind of hassle like super slow, out of stock, random issues.
Posted on 6/11/25 at 10:09 pm to Bubb
CVS will not close all of their stores. This a BS scare tactic. They have been hosing the people here for years and this needs to change.
Posted on 6/11/25 at 10:09 pm to EastWestConnection
quote:
I just switched to a local pharmacy and have no idea why anyone still goes to Walgreens and CVS. Those big places are rude and slow, and I get a better deal at the local place. Not to mention CVS has twice given me someone else's medication.
The only medication I take is a very low cost generic, so I don’t usually have any issues. With that said, I’ve stuck with Walgreens because it’s nice being able to transfer a script across the country without much effort if I ever need. I don’t need much else from a pharmacy.
Posted on 6/12/25 at 12:35 am to Shexter
All of the major pharmacies can get fricked. I switched to a local family owned pharmacy in Pearl River years ago and couldn't be happier - they even delivered my chemo/stem cell medicine to my door when I was quarantined after the transplants. Cheaper medicine and 10000% better customer service.
Widely prescribed nausea medicines for cancer patients was a 3-5 day wait at Walgreens/CVS, but less than 10 minutes at the local pharmacy because they knew it was a quick fill and had empathy for the patient. Major corporations couldn't give a crap about that, you're just a patient number and a source of revenue.
Widely prescribed nausea medicines for cancer patients was a 3-5 day wait at Walgreens/CVS, but less than 10 minutes at the local pharmacy because they knew it was a quick fill and had empathy for the patient. Major corporations couldn't give a crap about that, you're just a patient number and a source of revenue.
This post was edited on 6/12/25 at 12:38 am
Posted on 6/12/25 at 1:54 am to GITiger66
quote:
CVS will not close all of their stores. This a BS scare tactic. They have been hosing the people here for years and this needs to change.
The law requires them to either close all stores in podunk Arkansas and Louisiana, OR shutter their nationwide profit-generating PBM. There won't be a single CVS in Louisiana by the end of the year if this passes. The original bill that required them to pass on savings to employers and consumers might have helped. This bill will just close every CVS in Louisiana.
Posted on 6/12/25 at 6:29 am to Shexter
Arkansas is trying to do this also. I love CVS and most of our meds are free with Wellcare which has no monthly payments. CVS is suing Arkansas about this.
Posted on 6/12/25 at 6:43 am to Shexter
Amazon Pharmacy for the win. Right to my front door and usually cheaper than insurance price.
Posted on 6/12/25 at 7:07 am to LSU03
quote:
The law requires them to either close all stores in podunk Arkansas and Louisiana, OR shutter their nationwide profit-generating PBM.
A couple of questions about this:
1. Does health insurance and/or the PBM business work similarly to other forms of insurance, where companies are licensed in individual states?
2. Does the LA (or Arkansas) law allow them to continue operating pharmacies of their PBM business isn’t operating in Louisiana/Arkansas?
If there’s truly no mechanism where CVS can continue to operate pharmacies in LA without leaving the PBM business everywhere, then yeah - I would agree there’s only one realistic outcome.
Posted on 6/12/25 at 7:16 am to Roy Curado
quote:
If a big box store is scared, it helps small local pharmacies.
I’m not familiar with what’s happening in LA, but CVS and Walgreens have gutted family run pharmacies coast to coast and I don’t think that’s been a benefit to the patient or the industry.
The little guy just can’t compete anymore than they could when Walmart did the same thing to local grocery stores.
Posted on 6/12/25 at 7:33 am to SmackoverHawg
quote:
Agree, but it highlights were the money is. Walgreen's focused on retail pharmacy and primary care. Reimbursements for pharmacies and healthcare are in the shitter.
But think about why that’s happening. Caremark (allegedly) reimburses CVS at a higher rate than independent/competitor pharmacies. Caremark can present those low reimbursement rates as a “take it or leave it” proposition to independent pharmacies because they know that any customer with Caremark can always just go to CVS instead. Then they can manipulate things further in their favor by also making sure CVS is stocking/selling the drugs on the formulary that give them the best sweetheart deals.
If you take away the advantage of owning the nation’s largest retail pharmacy chain, it changes the dynamic dramatically. Now Caremark needs those other pharmacies under contract. Otherwise, customers can’t fill their prescriptions. If customers can’t fill prescriptions, Caremark becomes a big problem for the health insurance company.
On top of that, it becomes much harder for them to play games with the formulary because they can no longer directly control pharmacy inventory. If Caremark strikes a deal with a manufacturer to include a certain drug on the formulary (while excluding competing drugs) but the pharmacies aren’t stocking that drug, we’re back to the issue of customers being unable to fill prescriptions.
Caremark is the most egregious example but the other PBM’s are doing the same thing with mail-order and (to a lesser extent) retail pharmacies. Their ability to offer a “backup” source for folks to fill prescriptions allows them to play hardball with other providers.
Posted on 6/12/25 at 7:36 am to Shexter
Threatens
May Go Up
May Lose Job
Fearmongering
May Go Up
May Lose Job
Fearmongering
Posted on 6/12/25 at 8:04 am to Shexter
Per a pharmacy friend of mine they are being forced to divest or sell and CVS will likley end up the hands of private equity.
I switched a long time ago as I got tired of my neds being 3 days late and being "escalated" to be ready in the next 2 days
I switched a long time ago as I got tired of my neds being 3 days late and being "escalated" to be ready in the next 2 days
Posted on 6/12/25 at 8:05 am to Shexter
Great for non pbm owned pharmacies. About to make bank. frick cvs we don’t need them and drug prices will not increase because of this.
Posted on 6/12/25 at 8:10 am to deeprig9
quote:
My health insurance company only covers my medications if I go through CVS. So there's one idea you can have for why people might use CVS.
They most likely give you a “discount”, you’re still covered elsewhere. And you’d be shocked at some of the special pricing deals you can get at a smaller locally owned pharmacy that will still beat that cvs price.
Posted on 6/12/25 at 8:13 am to chryso
quote:
Does this help or hurt small independent pharmacies?
In my completely uniformed opinion it helps. The PBM’s restrict access to medications through their control over the distribution network of drugs (pharmacies). They negotiate pricing with pharmaceutical companies but as the article posted, typically do not pass on the savings to end users, but increase the profits for pharmacies. Additionally, if the discounts they demand are not met, drugs will be substituted for cheaper ones that they can make more profit off of.
PBM’s are not pharmacists, they are business majors like Martin Shkreli and this entire healthcare fiasco is worse off because of it.
Posted on 6/12/25 at 9:06 am to Shexter
WERE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!
Posted on 6/12/25 at 9:09 am to Oilfieldbiology
FWIW. I have a couple of friends who run independent pharmacies and they are all for the new law basically saying CVS has been gaming the system.
This post was edited on 6/12/25 at 9:10 am
Posted on 6/12/25 at 1:14 pm to STEVED00
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