Cuts Could Lead to Closed Pharmacies
By Keith Purtell, Muskogee Phoenix, Okla.
Jun. 11–An economic impact study of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 finds that 22 percent of Oklahoma pharmacies — 166 stores — could close because of reductions in the Medicaid reimbursement rate well below their cost to fill prescriptions.
David Moore, pharmacy manager at Walgreens on Chandler Road, said a large number of people could be affected by the closing of that many pharmacies in Oklahoma.
“I estimate that 35 to 40 percent of our customers rely on Medicaid for some part of their prescriptions,” he said. “We do have a lot of customers from Tahlequah, Wagoner, Council Hill, and Okay. There are many from smaller towns.”
These pharmacies generate 3,911 jobs and more than $340 million throughout Oklahoma’s economy.
The report, released jointly by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the Food Marketing Institute, analyzes the potential impact of the DRA on pharmacies, encompassing chain drug stores, independent pharmacies and mass merchants and supermarkets with pharmacies.
Charles Scribner, 68, said the proposed cutback seems like another case of powerful people not caring about ordinary people.
“To me it sounds like typical big money trying to do something to the little man,” he said. “If we keep sitting around, the current administration is going to bankrupt everybody.”
Scribner, retired from OG&E, said voters need to do some house cleaning in the federal government if they want to avert more health care burdens.
“Our elected officials need to go home, and we need to let a new group take over,” he said. “Both the Democrats and the Republicans have lost touch with reality. They’re worried more about their political parties than their constituents.”
To the extent that pharmacy closures simply redirect patients to other pharmacies, the net impacts would be smaller.
However, this offers little hope to pharmacies in rural areas and urban neighborhoods with large Medicaid populations since these areas would be unlikely to sustain their businesses and maintain pharmacy access. The loss of pharmacies for these Medicaid participants would adversely affect their health, according to NACDS and FMI.
Moore said he has already seen the difficulty caused by just one local closing.
“When Price Cutter went out of business, that created a lot of problems for patients who were going to the pharmacy there,” he said. “They may have been comfortable with that pharmacist, and then they have to find someone else in the community to fill their prescriptions and answer their questions.”
There are alternatives that have been proven in other parts of the globe, Moore said, especially Canada and Europe.
“The U.S. government is making changes that put smaller rural pharmacies in a bind, but they’re not telling the drug companies that they can’t charge a high price,” he said. “Other countries have price fixes on prescription drugs.”
Congressman Dan Boren, D-Muskogee, said that he is opposed to the reduction in reimbursement.
“I voted against this legislation because it was clear that it would gravely affect small, rural pharmacies where a large portion of eastern Oklahoma Medicaid beneficiaries obtain their prescriptions,” he said. “Aside from the negative impact this is having on rural health care access, it is also harmful to the health of local community economies and job levels.”
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