The war between payers and pharmacies just got nastier. In a pre-emptive move, GM anounced that Walgreen’s would no longer be allowed to fill prescriptions for its insureds. It appears that GM made this move after Walgreens got into a dispute with Toyota over Toyota’s efforts to increase the use of a mail-order pharmacy by its employees. (Mail order pharmacies are generally significantly less expensive than retail. Retail pharmacies want people to come into their stores, buy drugs, and pick up other goods on the way to check out, thus they really do not like mail order) As a result of the Toyota-Walgreen’s dispute, Walgreen’s cut Toyota out.
Perhaps Walgreens hoped Toyota’s employees would rise up in arms and demand Toyota include the chain, or perhaps Walgreen’s just could not afford to participate on Toyota’s terms. Regardless, GM decided to pre-empt any similar move by Walgreen’s towards the GM employee benefit plan. As one of the largest private payers, GM represents significant dollars for many health care providers.
According to Reuters, “GM provides health care coverage for 1.1 million workers, retirees and their families in the United States. Last year, GM spent $5.2 billion on health care in the United States, including $1.5 billion on prescription drugs.”
GM’s move is a clear indication of how seriously large employers take this issue. And with prescription drug costs leading the inflationary charge, don’t expect them to back down.
Feb
14
