With all the blame elected officials receive, we should pay credit when it’s due.  U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has taken action for lower prices and greater competition in the prescription drug market. She has written to the Federal Trade Commission asking for an investigation into significant concerns the combined CVS Caremark Corp. may be engaging in anti-competitive and deceptive business practices that are harming our patients.

Since the merger of CVS, the nation’s largest retail pharmacy, and Caremark, the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), community pharmacists have received many complaints from patients about CVS Caremark’s higher prices and questionable marketing practices. PBMs charge health insurance plans excessive fees (passed on to you) and are allowed to keep far too much of the discounts they negotiate with no oversight or auditing.

The merger has produced the worst of both worlds. The company’s mail-order and in-store sales and marketing teams can use a treasure trove of personal patient information to aggressively push people to CVS stores or Caremark mail order. That’s anti-competitive and, ultimately, anti-consumer.

The FTC should investigate; enforce consumer protections, where applicable; require CVS Caremark to treat all pharmacies in a nondiscriminatory fashion; and ensure that the company creates an ironclad barrier between CVS and Caremark so competitively sensitive Caremark information cannot be used by its CVS retail operation.

Americans would save billions annually if Congress enacted sensible PBM regulations and oversight through health care reform or other legislation.

Sincerely,

Tim J. Gallagher, pharmacist

Austin