News from the fight to
#SaveIndependentPharmacy
New York Times The Middlemen series
Walgreens Says It Will Close 1,200 Stores
The pharmacy giant said it would close the stores over the next three years and plans to “redeploy” the majority of the workers at the closed stores.
Senator Wiener Responds to Governor’s Veto of Pharmacy Benefit Manager Bill
California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation to rein in anticompetitive practices pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are using to drive up prescription drug prices and forcing independent pharmacies out of business. As a result, California remains one of the only states to leave the industry, which controls virtually all prescription drugs on the market, essentially unregulated. As a result, Californians will continue to pay more for health care and will continue to have limited access to their neighborhood pharmacies.
FTC head Lina Khan fighting Big Tech, Big Pharma and Big Groceries as trustbuster
FTC Chair Lena Khan was featured on a segment of 60 Minutes this past Sunday. The youngest-ever chair of the Federal Trade Commission sat down with Lesley Stahl to discuss how corporate consolidation and anti-competitive business practices are driving up prices throughout the U.S. economy.
Cub in Brooklyn Park to close in November
Another Twin Cities pharmacy closes. The supermarket in the Starlite Center at 7555 W. Broadway is anticipated to shut down for good on November 16, according to a spokesperson for UNFI Retail, Cub’s parent company.
Press Conference on PBM Abuse & H.R.9096 The Pharmacists Fight Back Act
Representatives Jake Auchincloss (D - MA) and Diana Harshbarger (R - TN) hold a press conference on PBM abuses, the destruction it causes to patients and pharmacies, and how The Pharmacists Fight Back Act H.R.9096 will stop it!
Senator Wiener’s Landmark Prescription Drug Prices Bill Heads to the Governor
The landmark piece of legislation would have enacted the nation’s strongest regulations to rein in exploitative behavior by pharmacy benefit managers, also known as PBM abuse. The bill passed with bipartisan support in the state legislature only to be vetoed by California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Why Walgreens And CVS Are Shutting Down Thousands Of Stores
In its fiscal third-quarter report, Walgreens announced its plans to close a ‘significant’ amount of stores, acknowledging only 75% of its 8,600 stores were profitable. While no specific stores were tapped for closure yet, more than 2,000 locations could face the chopping block by 2027. This just the latest sign of trouble for the struggling retail pharmacy sector as CVS and Rite Aid both announced large closures in the past year. Watch the video to learn why U.S. pharmacy chains are fighting for survival.
Nearly 400 independent pharmacies have closed in Minnesota since 1996. Why?
The financial woes impacting independent pharmacies have been in the making for decades. The core issue: inadequate reimbursements from pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, which manage prescription drug benefits and claims between health insurance plans and pharmacies.
How pharmacy deserts are formed
PBMs play a big role in the formation of a pharmacy desert.
The biggest Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) are profiting by systematically underpaying independent drugstores, creating “pharmacy deserts” across the country.
The third in “THE MIDDLEMEN” series of articles by reporters Rebecca Robins and Reed Abelson investigating PBMs .