JustCare

Tag: Walgreen

  • Want your prescription drugs quickly? Get drone delivery

    Want your prescription drugs quickly? Get drone delivery

    Bruce Japsen writes for Forbes on drone delivery of prescription drugs. If you happen to live in certain cities, you can now have your prescriptions dropped  outside your door within an hour of your request to fill them, at no extra cost. Several companies are testing drone delivery service in various cities across the US.

    Amazon’s Prime Air drone will deliver the prescription drugs in College Station, Texas. Over time, residents of other cities will be able to receive fast drone deliveries of their prescriptions through Amazon. But, it could take a few years. Prime Air drones already operate in College Station and Lockeford, California.

    Amazon’s press release reports that “Eligible Amazon Pharmacy customers can select ‘free drone delivery in less than 60 minutes’ at checkout. A pharmacist will then ensure medications are loaded and transported to a customer’s home within the next hour. College Station residents selecting drone delivery will have access to more than 500 medications that treat common conditions, including flu, asthma, and pneumonia.”

    Walgreens, CVS Health and Walmart are already testing drone delivery of prescription drugs. Walgreen’s is using Wing’s drones to deliver prescription drugs as well as over-the-counter health and wellness products to tens of thousands of people in the City of Frisco and the Town of Little Elm.

    CVS Health was testing drone deliveries of prescription drugs as far back as April 202o in The Villages in Florida. It partnered with UPS to make these deliveries to about 130,000 people. But, since the initial launch, there is no information as to whether the drone delivery service is working or has been expanded.

    Walmart began working with DroneUp to deliver medicines and other products to about 4 million of its customers back in May 2022. For $3.99, it delivers up to 10 pounds of items in as little as 3o minutes in parts of Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah and Virginia.

    The corporations say drone delivery of medicines is about helping people to adhere to their medication regimens. One in three people don’t fill their prescriptions. While some can’t get to the pharmacy, for which drone delivery should help, a lot of failure to adhere to drug regimens is about not being able to afford the prescription drug copays. Of course, when that’s the case, people will need more than drone delivery service to comply with their medication regimens.

  • Chain pharmacies found responsible for opioid crisis

    Chain pharmacies found responsible for opioid crisis

    After a six-week trial and five days of deliberation, a federal jury in Ohio recently found that three very large chain pharmacies were responsible in a significant way for the opioid crisis in two Ohio counties. Jan Hoffman reports for The New York Times that CVS Health, Walmart and Walgreens were found accountable for opioid overdoses and deaths. The insurers covering the opioids that were dispensed should also be found accountable.

    Germany never had an opioid crisis. The federal government in Germany controls the drugs that insurers cover and restricted coverage of opioids by health insurers. It’s unfathomable that corporate health insurers in the US, allegedly in business to manage people’s care, approved coverage of opioids in millions of cases where alternative non-addictive pain relievers were available to treat pain.

    Thousands of lawsuits have been filed across the United States against pharmaceutical companies for fueling the opioid public health crisis and creating a “public nuisance.” California and Oklahoma judges have not bought the argument, saying that the opioid manufacturers were not directly linked to the overdoses and deaths.

    Unfortunately, most of these lawsuits are still working their way through the system. And, opioid overdoses and deaths are on the rise. Many of those overdoses were of illegal opioids such as heroin and fentanyl bought on the street. But, those purchases are a bi-product of people becoming addicted to opioids that were legally prescribed.

    Over the summer, Nassau and Suffolk counties in New York State settled an opioid case with Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS and Walmart for $26 million.

    In the Ohio case, the chain pharmacies claim that they will appeal. As far as they are concerned, they were just doing what they are supposed to do, fill legal prescriptions. In the process, of course, but left unsaid, they were profiting wildly.

    Of note, the lawyers defending the pharmacies in the Ohio lawsuit laid blame with manufacturers and doctors but did not blame the health insurers approving coverage of the opioids. CVS Health, Walmart and Walgreen are also insurers or linked to them.

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  • Clover Health exposes risks of Medicare Advantage

    Clover Health exposes risks of Medicare Advantage

    A little known company, Clover Health, has done quite a job breaking into the Medicare Advantage business. It raised millions from Wall Street, went public, and upped its valuation into the billions of dollars. At the time of its IPO, it did not disclose it was under federal investigation. Forbes reports that Clover Health has strong ties to Walgreens and SeekMedicare, a for-profit Medicare counseling business, which appears to be steering folks to enroll in Clover Health.

    The Justice Department has been investigating Clover Health because of its relationship with SeekMedicare. SeekMedicare is accused of misleading its customers, providing them with biased information about their Medicare choices. SeekMedicare claims it is “independent” and “unbiased” even though it is a subsidiary of Clover Health, and Walgreens is one of its investors.

    SeekMedicare operates in-person Medicare advisor programs in nearly 100 Walgreens stores. It tells older adults that it offers unbiased information about their Medicare choices. It’s not clear the extent to which it is steering people to Clover Health, but odds are it is.

    The bigger problem: There’s nothing stopping any entity from claiming it can help people choose a Medicare plan. And, there’s nothing stopping these entities from steering people to the Medicare Advantage plans that maximize their profits, even when those plans are not the best choice. On top of that, insurers can pay insurance agents and brokers in ways that can lead the agents and brokers to steer people to Medicare Advantage plans that increase their earnings without considering the needs of the people they advise.

    What you can do: Every state offers free health insurance counseling to people with Medicare through a state health insurance counseling program or SHIP. SHIPs are designed to give people impartial advice. Click here to find the SHIP in your state.

    What Congress can do: Congress should own the fact that the Medicare Advantage program is not cost-effective and is fully rigged to maximize profits at the expense of people’s health care needs. Congress also should end Medicare Advantage as it currently operates and revisit whether there is a way to offer people private insurance coverage that works without endangering the lives of vulnerable older and disabled Americans.

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  • Could Walmart be where you go for health care?

    Could Walmart be where you go for health care?

    Until Congress steps in to regulate our health care system effectively, it appears that corporations are going to take advantage of the great potential revenue in the health care sector, even if they have little experience delivering care. Last year, Walmart opened a health superstore in Dallas, Georgia, strange as that might seem. Now, Health Care Dive reports that Walmart is planning to open Walmart Health superstores around the country.

    Walmart is investing millions to deliver health care. The superstores are expected to provide urgent care, dental care, therapy, and diagnostic services as well as primary care services. Pricing is intended to be affordable and significantly less than what CVS Health charges. But, prices are not set yet, and there is likely to be variability.

    Right now, in Georgia, an adult primary care visit is $40. An adult dental checkup is $50. And, an eye appointment is $45. The store charges $1 a minute for therapy services.

    Visits to Walmart Health in Georgia are for primary care about half the time and specialty care the other half. People who come for primary care often then continue to come for chronic care management.

    The value of health superstores to Walmart extends beyond the revenue from delivering health care services. As a result of offering these services, Walmart has found that it fills more prescriptions and gets additional sales.

    At the moment, there are six Walmart Health venues. There are five in Georgia. And, there is one in Arkansas. Before the year is out, there will be seven more Walmart Health locations in Georgia and two in the Chicago metropolitan area.

    In the first months of 2021, Jacksonville, Florida will see seven Walmart Health superstores. And, Walmart Health superstores will sprout up soon in Orlando and Tampa. Next up for Walmart, health insurance policies.

    Meanwhile, CVS and Walgreens are also hoping to provide more health care services and build their patient base. CVS plans to grow from 275 HealthHUBs to 1,775 HealthHUBs by the end of 2021. It also has 1,100 walk-in MinuteClinics. Walgreens is putting $1 billion towards installing doctor’s offices in 500-700 retail stores over the next five years. These stores will have doctors on hand to provide patients primary care.

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