Walgreen to Cut Washington State Medicaid Business

Drugstore company Walgreen Company, known as Walgreen's Drug Stores,  said on Monday it would pull almost half its pharmacies in Washington State from the U.S. Medicaid program to protest against the state's plan to cut reimbursements for drugs.

Cash-strapped Washington State plans to insist on cheaper, generic drugs for low-income Medicaid clients whenever available and equivalent to brand-name drugs, and is also cutting the rate of reimbursements on all drugs to pharmacies which supply them.

Cutting the reimbursement rate of generic and brand-name drugs would severely impact the "economic viability of doing business in Washington," Walgreen said in a statement.  However, this is not only being considered in Washington State.  There are several other states going through the same financial issues - especially with Medicaid.   Washington State is simply the first state that Walgreen's will be pulling many stores out of, severely limiting choices for some seniors who have dealt with Walgreen's for many years when it has come to their medication and other Medicaid needs.

Walgreen, one of the largest U.S. pharmacy chains, is to withdraw 44 of its 111 pharmacies in the state of Washington from the Medicaid program. Medicaid provides health insurance to low income individuals.

Unlike Medicare, the federal health program for seniors, Medicaid is partially funded by states. In order to cut the costs of the program, Washington state announced last week it would cut Medicaid reimbursements for brand-name prescription drugs by 6 percent, effective on Wednesday.

Walgreen said it would withdraw the 44 pharmacies from Medicaid as of May 1, a month after Washington introduces its plan. It said those pharmacies represent more than 60 percent of its total Medicaid business in the state.

There is a chance other pharmacies such as CVS Caremark Corp and Rite Aid Corp will follow suit in pulling out of Washington's Medicaid program

Some information from Reuters.

Filed under: General-Medicare

Tags: medicaid, Medicaid costs, Medicaid Reimbursement, Washington State