Military members, veterans, and their families are devastated by Express Scripts
dropping nearly 15,000 local and independent pharmacies to boost profits.
November 3, 2022
(Alexandria, Virginia) – Today Consumer Action for a Strong Economy (CASE) sent a letter to Gilbert R. Cisneros Jr., Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, demanding that the Department of Defense initiate an investigation into the business practices of pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) Express Scripts.
Nearly 15,000 local and independent pharmacies, along with 2,000 pharmacies within Kroger’s supermarket chains, have been dropped from Express Scripts’ network for refusing to accept industry-low reimbursement rates for prescription medications, a move that will leaves hundreds of thousands of veterans, military personnel, and their dependents under TRICARE scrambling to find a new pharmacy provider.
Said CASE chairman Gerard Scimeca, “It is absolutely shameful for Express Scripts’ to hang our military personnel, veterans, and their families out to dry as they put the thumbscrews on local pharmacies to pad their profits with miserly reimbursement rates. Insurance companies, including Express Scripts’ parent company Cigna, are making record profits, and receiving billions in taxpayer subsidies to participate in government healthcare plans. If they insist on engaging in profit-driven, hardball tactics that harm U.S. consumers, it is incumbent upon government officials to take a good, long look at how they do business.”
The letter notes TRICARE beneficiaries will also be losing access to the Kroger grocery chain‘s pharmacies starting next year because Express Scripts has refused to offer fair contract terms – instead offering reimbursement rates far below the industry standard.
Kroger, along with more than 15,000 local and independent pharmacies, play a significant role in providing prescription medications to TRICARE members and their families, as the letter to Under Secretary Cisneros states:
“Currently, large PBMs like Express Scripts, owned by insurance hegemon CIGNA, have a stranglehold on retail, local, and community pharmacies that serve as critical healthcare providers for these individuals.
“This modern-day price gouging by PBMs is occurring as the costs for generic drugs have significantly decreased – a savings most pharmacies and consumers have yet to see. Instead, PBMs have taken advantage of their role as middleman in the pharmaceutical supply chain. For more expensive, brand name drugs, Express Scripts has leveraged its role in formulary management to increase rebate payments, further padding their pockets and increasing overall prescription drug costs.”
Said Scimeca, “Mr. Cisneros, millions of people in military families across our nation are counting on you to protect their interests and ensure unfair PBM practices are not siphoning consumers’ pockets, and making access to care more difficult. It is time to take action against the powerful, entrenched, special interests in the prescription drug market and hold them accountable.”
The full text of the letter can be found here.
