News
from the fight to #SaveIndiePharmacy
New York Times’ The Middlemen series
Too Rare to Matter? How Insurers Fail Millions with ‘Uncommon’ Diseases.
When you’re healthy, you might see insurance as a tedious but dependable safety net. For rare disease patients, the truth is harsher: we wish inconvenience was the worst of it.
Opinion | All I wanted was a pill refill, but I fell into a rabbit hole
This is a part of life that worked better in the past.
Tylenol Issues Clarification After White House Resurfaces 2017 Tweet on Usage During Pregnancy
Tylenol’s parent company, Kenvue, said an eight-year-old social media post was “being taken out of context” as the Trump administration warns pregnant women not to take the drug.
Pharma middlemen propose regulatory changes to avoid Trump administration rules, Bloomberg News reports
The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), a key lobbying group for pharmacy middlemen, is drafting recommendations to present to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Bloomberg News reported, citing a reviewed document.
CVS’s Omnicare Files Bankruptcy After $949 Million Judgment
CVS Health Corp. subsidiary Omnicare Inc. has filed for bankruptcy after the pharmacy-services provider was ordered to pay $949 million over claims it improperly dispensed prescription drugs to individuals in long-term care.
Questions Are Raised About Vaccine Panel’s Reliability as Policy Review Gets Underway
Senator Bill Cassidy warned against any new restrictions, and insurers suggested they would still cover routine vaccinations even if a C.D.C. panel tried to limit them.
Op-Ed: Vaccine Policy Changes Are Undoing Pharmacy Access
The momentum gained during the pandemic is now at risk due to recent federal actions to roll back vaccine policy. Until recently, the COVID-19 vaccines were authorized for use via Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) in all individuals 6 months of age and older or approved via Biologics License Application (BLA) for individuals aged 12 and older
90,000 Minnesotans face big health insurance premium hikes without congressional action
More than 167,000 Minnesota obtained private health care coverage through MNsure this year, mostly students, younger retirees, contractors and the self-employed, including farmers. A majority of those those enrollees — 90,000 — benefited from the Biden-era enhanced subsidies.
I Run the F.D.A., Pharma Ads Are Hurting Americans.
American drug advertisements are filled with dancing patients, glowing smiles and catchy jingles that drown out the fine print. It’s not education — it’s distraction by design.
Just 1 in 4 Americans believe Trump administration vaccine shifts are based on science, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
The administration, while still in the process of setting new vaccination policies, has signaled that young and healthy people and pregnant women shouldn't get shots for the COVID-19 virus.
NCPA: More Than 125 Groups Urge Congress to Pass PBM Reform
In a letter to Congress, the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) addressed the need to pass the PBM Reform Act (H.R. 4317) and 2 companion bills: the Protecting Pharmacies in Medicaid Act (S. 927) and the Patients Before Middlemen Act (S. 882).
UnitedHealth Purges Rheumatology Clinic, Patients Left Scrambling
Dropping Triangle Arthritis from its Medicare Advantage network is part of a wider strategy to cut high-cost doctors and dump vulnerable patients.
Latest COVID-19 vaccines reach Minnesota amid confusion over who gets them
Gov. Tim Walz issued an executive order to preserve COVID-19 vaccine access if federal health advisers opt later this month to discourage some people from getting the shots.
House Republicans probe CVS for alleged HIPAA violation
In June, CVS sent a mass text to pharmacy customers in Louisiana urging them to contact their representatives to oppose a PBM reform bill.
Health Care Costs for Workers Begin to Climb
A survey shows employers expect a sharp increase in benefit costs for next year, and many will want workers to shoulder more of the burden.
UnitedHealthcare, Humana are gaming Medicare Advantage risk adjustment, analysis finds
The Alliance for Community Health Plans’ analysis adds to existing research suggesting major insurers are unfairly profiting from MA’s risk adjustment system.
C.D.C. Uncertainty Upends Covid Vaccine Access at CVS and Walgreens
State laws and regulatory chaos are driving the country’s largest pharmacy chains to require prescriptions or hold back altogether unless a C.D.C. panel acts.
Minnesota pharmacists who refused to administer gender-affirming drugs sue Walgreens
The Christian pharmacists say in their lawsuit they should be able to refuse to prescribe on religious grounds.
Getting a Covid shot this fall could be a lot more complicated
Some healthy people may have to prove they have an underlying condition, or get a prescription.
CVS unit must pay $290 million in drug whistleblower lawsuit, judge rules
A federal judge ordered CVS Health's, opens new tab pharmacy benefit manager unit to pay $289.9 million in damages and penalties after it overcharged Medicare for prescription drugs.
Drugmakers including Purdue Pharma paid pharmacy benefit managers not to restrict painkiller prescriptions, a New York Times investigation found.