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Walgreens: no new Medicaid patients as of April 16

Walgreens will stop taking new Medicaid patients in Washington state as of April 16, saying it loses money filling their prescriptions.

Effective April 16, Walgreens drugstores across the state won't take any new Medicaid patients, saying that filling their prescriptions is a money-losing proposition — the latest development in an ongoing dispute over Medicaid reimbursement. The company, which operates 121 stores in the state, will continue filling Medicaid prescriptions for current patients.

In a news release, Walgreens said its decision to not take new Medicaid patients stemmed from a "continued reduction in reimbursement" under the state's Medicaid program, which reimburses it at less than the break-even point for 95 percent of brand-name medications dispensed to Medicaid patents.

Walgreens follows Bartell Drugs, which stopped taking new Medicaid patients last month at all 57 of its stores in Washington, though it still fills Medicaid prescriptions for existing customers at all but 15 of those stores.

Doug Porter, the state's director of Medicaid, said Medicaid recipients should be able to readily find another pharmacy because "we have many more pharmacy providers in our network than we need" for the state's 1 million Medicaid clients.


More:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011367936_walgreens18m.html

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ORIGINAL: eyesopened

I'm saying that a corporation needs to also be a good citizen. 

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ORIGINAL: tazzygirl

On this one, i have to agree with Sanity. These companies should be, at least, allowed to break even. But to take a loss because the reimbursement isnt enough... well... we cant force these companies to do that. The problem will happen when the LAST company tries to do this. Then the real issues will have to be addressed.

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ORIGINAL: RacerJim

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ORIGINAL: tazzygirl

On this one, i have to agree with Sanity. These companies should be, at least, allowed to break even. But to take a loss because the reimbursement isnt enough... well... we cant force these companies to do that. The problem will happen when the LAST company tries to do this. Then the real issues will have to be addressed.

When the LAST company tries to do that it will be too LATE to address the real issues. Addressing the real issues, rather than simply fulfilling one of Obama's core campaign promises, is why Congressional Republicans and an ever-increasing majority of "We the people..." have opposed the Democrats' healthcare reform legislation.

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ORIGINAL: Louve00

I would find it easier to agree with Sanity if the company was indeed losing money.  But Walgreens wasn't losing money, and had a huge gain while filling medicaid prescriptions last year.  But, its their company.  I know I am just one lone little consumer, but I won't be giving any of my money to Walgreen's this year.  Let them make their profits on whoever they were making profits on, minus the money they were getting from medicaid.  (I am boycotting them upon hearing this! lol)

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ORIGINAL: housesub4you

But where is there loss????  They made 16.2 Billion in profits.   It seems strange that people are so willing to accept the statement Walgreen's lost money, while they post record profits.

Now, let's see, last month Walgreen's moved their accounting department oveaseas to India, to increase profits, now they will no longer offer service's to  new Medicaid to increase profits.  Fine so be it.  It is a business, but I think if you are going to stop accepting new Medicaid, they should stop accepting all Medicaid and let the people choose to shop there for anything else if they want.

I personally never shop there for anything, their prices are insane compared to the others stores in the area. 

In our town Walgreen's attempted to open a second store less than 2 miles from another of there stores and everyone bitched to the city council about WHY do we need another Walgreen's, how many does a small town need, and they lost the permit.  Now a new business other than a drug store is moving in.  Not that this has anything to do with the thread

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ORIGINAL: Sanity


They're losing money on their Medicaid patients. They've agreed to keep losing money on their existing patients, which proves they have a big heart, but are making a move to cut future losses, like any practical business has to in order to survive. And their sales were 16 billion, which they have to cover all their expenses out of that, as well as take care of their investors. 

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ORIGINAL: Sanity


They're losing money on their Medicaid patients. They've agreed to keep losing money on their existing patients, which proves they have a big heart, but are making a move to cut future losses, like any practical business has to in order to survive. And their sales were 16 billion, which they have to cover all their expenses out of that, as well as take care of their investors. 

Again, its a business. You want charity, go see the Catholics.

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ORIGINAL: housesub4you

But where is there loss????  They made 16.2 Billion in profits.   It seems strange that people are so willing to accept the statement Walgreen's lost money, while they post record profits.

Now, let's see, last month Walgreen's moved their accounting department oveaseas to India, to increase profits, now they will no longer offer service's to  new Medicaid to increase profits.  Fine so be it.  It is a business, but I think if you are going to stop accepting new Medicaid, they should stop accepting all Medicaid and let the people choose to shop there for anything else if they want.

I personally never shop there for anything, their prices are insane compared to the others stores in the area. 

In our town Walgreen's attempted to open a second store less than 2 miles from another of there stores and everyone bitched to the city council about WHY do we need another Walgreen's, how many does a small town need, and they lost the permit.  Now a new business other than a drug store is moving in.  Not that this has anything to do with the thread

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ORIGINAL: Sanity


Thats ridiculous. Crazy talk...

Say a restaurant chain wasn't losing money on some aspect of its business. Would you boycott them as well? Ben Franklin said a penny saved is a penny earned, and businessmen who manage to stay in business understand that.

The larger point however, seems to be getting lost, which is that Obama is determined to cut five hundred billion dollars from the Medicare budget in order to make Obamacare seem a little more affordable. But with Medicare struggling to pay its bills now, whats going to happen to it after Obama's drastic cuts start kicking in?

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ORIGINAL: Louve00

I would find it easier to agree with Sanity if the company was indeed losing money.  But Walgreens wasn't losing money, and had a huge gain while filling medicaid prescriptions last year.  But, its their company.  I know I am just one lone little consumer, but I won't be giving any of my money to Walgreen's this year.  Let them make their profits on whoever they were making profits on, minus the money they were getting from medicaid.  (I am boycotting them upon hearing this! lol)