What “Big Insurance” Doesn’t Want You to Know About Community Pharmacies
Medium.com Patients and pharmacists share a special relationship, often stretching back generations. Even the frightening spike in drug costs can’t erode the feeling of trust and care we feel when walking into our neighborhood pharmacy. But “neighborhood pharmacies” as we know them are rapidly disappearing, victims of large corporate pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) “middlemen” that now dominate the drug industry. If you’ve never heard of PBMs, you’re not alone. The largest PBMs own or are owned by, well-known health insurers (UnitedHealth; CVS Health, CIGNA) — and all own or have affiliate relationships with their own pharmacies. If you’re a die-hard CVS or Walgreens shopper, you may not be familiar with the neighborhood (or community) pharmacy — but you should be. Community pharmacies are independently-owned pharmacies that provide the same services as national retail pharmacies but cost the same, if not less, than the “big” pharmacies. Think of independent pharmacies like …
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