Browns Pharmacy

01/25/2026

There are certainly a lot of opinions around AOC. However, here she is spot on. The vertical monopolies that CVS Health, Express Scripts, and OptumRx have created need to be broken up. Pharmacy owners have been raising this issue for decades. They are solely responsible for the mass closures of chain and independent pharmacies. Hopefully this is a partisan issue that our government can finally tackle.

11/21/2025

Sadly another small town in NY is losing its pharmacy. Alfred Pharmacy will be closing next week. The owner is retiring. However, if the business was adequately supported by our government and reimbursed fairly by PBMs and insurance companies a successor could certainly have been found to continue on the legacy.

If you want to help please contact your legislators and voice your support for the "PAPA" bill, the Patient Access to Pharmacy Act. While not a silver bullet this bill will move things in the right direction to support pharmacies like ours. Thank you!

10/15/2025

Medicare Open Enrollment is here through December 7th! This is an important time of year to review your Medicare plan to start 2026 on medicare.gov. As a reminder our pharmacy will not be participating with Humana starting 2026. If you would like to continue to use our pharmacy with your Medicare insurance you would need to enroll with a different plan.

For 2026 there is still no longer a donut hole. The maximum deductible in 2026 is $615. The maximum out of pocket is $2100 for the year on your prescriptions. This does not include premium payments.

If you'd like our staff to review your medications and plan options please do not hesitate to ask!

https://www.medicare.gov/health-drug-plans/open-enrollment

10/08/2025

Another small town in upstate NY is losing its pharmacy. It’s sad that PBMs are allowed to continue paying pharmacies below cost. It doesn’t make sense that busy businesses with strong community support continue to close for no fault of their own. It’d be nice if our legislators and governor finally stood up to the PBMs and passed the legislation pharmacies have been proposing for years to avoid situations like this.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CtR2kpbuv/?mibextid=wwXIfr

07/30/2025

This is why PBMs should not be allowed to own pharmacies. They put retail pharmacies out of business through low reimbursements. Then market to those patients to switch to their mail order pharmacy. There’s a clear conflict of interest.

06/24/2025

Thank you to those that contacted our state representatives regarding legislation that would force commercial plans to reimburse pharmacies fairly. Unfortunately, the state government failed to act and pharmacies will continue to regularly be paid far below our cost. Pharmacies will continue to close through out NYS and many communities will lose access to a local convenient healthcare provider. Below is a great article discussing this issue.

Village Apothecary’s Neal Smoller explains how PBMs bleed small pharmacies dry—and why a stalled NY bill could be the lifeline independents need to survive.

05/27/2025

05/14/2025

If you haven't heard already Rite Aid will be closing ALL of their 175 locations in New York State and nearly 2000 across the country. This is nothing Browns Pharmacy celebrates. The same headwinds that forced Rite Aid to this decision affect our pharmacy as well. Pharmacy Benefit Managers, PBMs, like Express Scripts, that reimburse pharmacies for prescription medications for your health plan pay us below our cost on a significant number of prescriptions and essentially all brand name medications like Ozempic, Eliquis, and Lantus.

To help prevent further closures of pharmacies please contact your local representatives to let them know we need to pass NYS bill A5882/S5939. It is called the "Commercial Reimbursement Floor Bill". Thank you for your advocacy and support!

-NYS Senator Peter Oberacker oberacker@nysenate.gov 607-432-5524
-NYS Assemblyman Joe Angelino angelinoj@nyassembly.gov 607-648-6080

Time is also running out for returns and exchanges.

04/08/2025

Please click the link below to let your representatives know you support legislation that will help keep local pharmacies open and bring transparency to the pharmacy insurance industry. Thank you!

https://www.ipcrx.com/legislative-action-center/tell-congress-pbm-reform-creates-savings-for-taxpayers/

03/25/2025

PBMs, like Express Scripts, are middlemen that contract with pharmacies on behalf of health insurance plans. These PBMs get massive rebates, basically kickbacks, from drug manufacturers. Manufacturers have to increase the price of their drugs to keep up with the demand for these kickbacks. This drives up costs for everyone. Bringing transparency to the system can help to eliminate these from driving up drug costs.

Please click the link below to request that your NYS Assemblyman support this transparency. Please update the message body to say you are a resident, not a pharmacist. Thank you!

To unite and empower the profession of pharmacy through advocacy, education, networking, and interprofessional collaboration.

03/21/2025

Did you know many large pharmacies like Wegmans and Kinney Drugs do not fill all your prescriptions at the pharmacy you pick up at? This siphon's away jobs from your community and means less of your money stays local when you use don't use a pharmacy like ours that is filling all your prescriptions locally.

Wegmans wants to lighten the workload for its in-store pharmacists and technicians, and has opened a central location designed to handle most of its next-day prescription refills. The Rochester-based chain

03/20/2025

Spring brings blooming flowers and… allergy season! 🤧 If you suffer from seasonal allergies, we’re here to help you breathe easier this season. Stop by for advice on the best over-the-counter allergy medications and ways to manage symptoms naturally. 🍯💊