community pharmacy
As new Medicaid prescription program nears, some Ohio pharmacists are worried
Ohio’s community pharmacists are still worried that the state Medicaid program might drive them out of business — and deprive some communities of access to medicine. After years of complaints about under-payment and possible profiteering off of prescription drugs, the legislature in 2019 directed the Department of Medicaid to undertake a bold reform. Instead of […]
Basketball billionaire enters the no-insurance, no-middleman drug business
Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is getting into a business pioneered by independent pharmacists in Ohio and elsewhere. The idea is to radically reduce consumer costs for common generic drugs by cutting out insurance companies and the middlemen they hire to handle transactions with manufacturers and pharmacies. On Jan. 19, the Mark Cuban […]
Chucking insurance
To a growing number of pharmacists, using insurance to pay for most generic drugs makes about as much sense as getting auto insurance to cover your oil changes. Problem is, if you try to buy generics without using your insurance card at the vast, vast majority of American pharmacies, you’re going to pay a “cash” […]
Eleven generic versions of an HIV drug rush onto the market… and list prices go up
The health care system is supposed to incentivize the development of wonder drugs and then apply market forces to squeeze prices to a minimum. But a new report shows how at least for one drug, incentivizing is working a lot better than price-squeezing. At least when insurance is involved. For example, Blueberry Pharmacy in the […]
Ohio managed-care company makes big change to drug reimbursements
After years of complaints by community pharmacies, Ohio's largest Medicaid managed-care company has announced a huge overhaul to the way it reimburses them for prescription drugs.