02/25/2025
CALL TO ACTION:
If you've been with us for a while, you have likely heard us bemoan the ways PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers) get in the way of us caring for you. Most recently at the end of 2024, we had to make the difficult choice to drop two popular groups of Medicare plans because of unfair reimbursement practices. You wouldn't ask your plumber or electrician or auto mechanic to install $500 worth of equipment for $450 without paying for their labor; yet that's what happens daily at Hometown and in pharmacies all over the country.
If we delivered the exact amount of service we were paid for by PBMs, you would have to interpret your own doctor's orders, find and count your own medicine, bring your own container to put it in, and perform your own research regarding drug interactions and side effects. Yet we continue to provide all of this unpaid labor because we care about your well -being. For years we have tried to do more with less as reimbursements race to the bottom of the barrel, but all pharmacies are reaching a breaking point. Have you noticed that your wait time at chain pharmacies has skyrocketed? Blame reduced staffing due to reimbursements. Is your pharmacy unable to stock your brand name diabetes or heart medicine? Blame below-cost reimbursements.
Alabama is losing about one pharmacy per week to these predatory practices. This legislative session, we have a chance to stop the hemorrhaging and protect YOUR access to high quality care. Contact the members of the AL Senate in the image below and let them know to SUPPORT SB99!
