An interesting story in the Journal-World yesterday morning:
Drug plan a burden, pharmacies report(You have to register, but it's free)
We all already knew that the Medicare Part D prescription drug "benefit" is not much of a benefit for seniors. But it turns out it hammers small drug stores, too. In Lawrence there's a great old drug store, the Round Corner. It's not a Walgreens, it's not a Wal-Mart, it's not a Target; it's just an old drug store that I admire for its independence. In fact, I admire all local drug stores, and really hate to see them getting gobbled up by chains. (The demise of K&B in New Orleans was a heartbreaker to me, too.)
Follow me around the bend as I, well, go around the bend with another tale of big business, government, and hammering of the little guy...
Here's the problem:
Round Corner Drug Store pharmacist Tom Wilcox filled a prescription last week for one of his Medicare Part D customers.
It cost him $178.
He later learned the customer's drug plan, Humana, planned on paying him $178.54.
"I called Humana and said there had to be a mistake -- you can't expect a pharmacy to fill a $178 prescription for 54 cents,' said Wilcox, who has filled prescriptions at Round Corner, 801 Mass., for the last 21 years.
"They checked and said, no, that was correct," he said. "When I said that's crazy, they said I shouldn't have signed on if I didn't like it."
But Wilcox said he didn't have much choice. Most of his Medicare Part D customers signed up with Humana because its premiums were by far the lowest: less than $10 a month. The others are charging between $20 and $30.
"Most people went with Humana, definitely," he said.
This is what's sad about this story; this is happening all over Kansas, and I am sure it's happening to a drugstore near you, too.
Wilcox is far from alone in his complaints. Independent pharmacists across the city and state say all but one of the new Medicare Part D plans are designed to steer their customers toward large, chain-owned pharmacies that rely on volume to hold down prices. Independent pharmacies, they said, rely less on volume, more on customer loyalty.
So maybe you're one of those who thinks that, well, if a company can't make it, then that's just the magic hand of the market correcting things.
If so, this should chap your ass as much as it chaps mine:
Humana and UnitedHealth Group are two of the nation's largest Medicare Part D providers. They're aligned with Wal-Mart and Walgreens, respectively.
Makes you wonder what the reimbursement rates are to Wal-Mart and Walgreens (respectively), doesn't it? Makes you wonder just what "aligned" means? Makes you long for that quaint notion of a "free marketplace."
Makes me sick.
And so, you might wonder how such a thing could have happened in this, our land of the free and home of the brave?
Mary Sellers, a spokeswoman for Humana, said the company's rates were reviewed and approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. She said the rates were competitive.
Bastards.