San Bernardino County
Workers won’t be able to use small pharmacies
Jim Steinberg, Staff Writer
Created: 07/25/2010 08:06:05 PM PDT
The issue is the right of consumer choice vs. saving money.
It’s about supporting local businesses or shrinking expenses.
And independent pharmacy owners across San Bernardino County are hopping mad.
Effective next month, the 9,185 San Bernardino County employees enrolled in Health Net medical insurance plans will be required to purchase their maintenance medications either through CVS retail stores or the company’s mail-order prescription service.
Supervisor Neil Derry said this action will take “hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the local economy and ship taxpayers’ money to Rhode Island, where it will never come back.
“I, for one, would like to see the action reversed. … There are consumer-choice issues and potential safety issues,” Derry said late last week.
He said the agreement can be changed prior to Aug. 1.
“I’d like to see it done,” he said. “I’d like the money to stay locally.”
Other county supervisors could not be reached for comment on this issue.
Pharmacy store chain CVS purchased pharmacy benefit manager Caremark in 2007. The combined CVS Caremark Corp. is based in Woonsocket, R.I.
There are 98 independent pharmacies in San Bernardino County, and it’s estimated that this policy will result in 40 jobs being cut from that group, said Gary Ellis, chief operating officer of Managed Pharmacy Care Inc., a co-operative of independent pharmacies headquartered in Lake Arrowhead.
“San Bernardino County is trying to say they are business friendly and then shifts business out of state,” said Mike Vick, who owns Alta Vista Pharmacy in Montclair, Baldy Vista Pharmacy in Ontario and Rialto Vista Pharmacy in Rialto.
Vick estimated that this decision would take a 10 percent to 15 percent piece out of his business.
“On top of the things that have already gone down (in this poor economic climate), this is a pretty heavy chunk,” he said.
County spokesman David Wert said the county “could not overlook the savings of $1.5 million.”
“The county’s first priority in this kind of agreement is what is best for the employees,” Wert said.
Health Net had proposed a 13.5 percent increase in premiums. By agreeing to a package that included the mandatory maintenance program with CVS, premiums would be increased by 9 percent, according to county documents.
The difference would save employees and the county more than $1.5 million over three years, the document said.
“The county’s overriding concern is making health care as affordable as possible to employees and the county. Paying an additional 4.5 percent was not an acceptable alternative considering that the CVS proposal for maintenance would not inconvenience the county’s employees.
“Depending on how many dependents an employee has and which Health Net plan they choose, the 4.5 percent difference can save an employee up to approximately $1,500 a year in premiums,” the document says.
“The county does not foresee a major impact on independent pharmacies because independent pharmacies have been getting only 8 percent of the county’s business Ninety-two percent of county employee prescriptions have been going to large retail pharmacies such as CVS, Wal-Mart, Costco, Target, Walgreens, etc.,” the document says.
Derry said the “8 percent” figure makes the county’s action seem inconsequential, but it does not factor in the dollars that won’t go to local Stater Bros. pharmacies and local outlets of other chains.
On the safety issue, Derry said that there’s more chance of adverse reactions to drugs if a person’s prescriptions are split between a local pharmacy and one out-of-state.
In that situation, no pharmacist has the big picture about what medications a person is taking, he said.
One longtime county employee, who declined to give her name for fear of reprisal, said she “loves the independent pharmacy near where I live and would hate to see them hurt by this.”
She also said she doesn’t like being told where to take her business.
Bob Beeman, owner of two Beeman’s pharmacies in San Bernardino and one in Redlands, sees the county’s action as just another step in the movement of government into people’s lives.
“At what point in time will they stop telling people where to get this or that?” he asked.
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OK now I am a pissed off county employee. I put up with everything else those elected, appointed or otherwise put in power knuckleheads have thrown our way but this medication issue really has me livid. Why should I have to leave the comfort of using my neighborhood Walgreen’s and start using a pharmacy selected by someone else.
This just is not right. By the way is this a monopoly? Do anti-trust laws apply here? Is someone expecting to get a kickback from CVS or what? I don’t get it why would they do something this stupid.
We all pay a co-pay when getting a prescription filled and now they are saying we can only do business with one pharmacy. Sounds to me like they are telling us where we can spend our paychecks. Whats next a company grocery store and script instead of US Dollars?
I will be talking with Walgreen’s to see what kind of discount they might offer so that I can keep doing business there instead of at CVS. Screw the county they are not going to tell me where I can get my drugs and medications.
I was also suspicious at the motivations for this deal. Since when has the County been the least bit interested in saving me money? Have they given me the ability to opt out, completely recoup my cafeteria plan, and go with my spouses insurer? Have the laid off the 2-3 individuals charged with managing my 457 plan (when in all actuality ING does all the work)? Nope, someone on the fifth floor is getting a kickback of some fashion.