Last week, Pharmacists for Bush, a political action committee from Texas, visited the White House. They were, as we say in Texas, hopping mad. The meeting was arranged by Bill Pittman, a past president of the Texas State Board of Pharmacy and chair of the Pharmacists for Bush that had raised money for President Bush's election. Their message was far from partisan though. The group was clearly carrying the water for all retail pharmacists across the country as they visited with Presidential Advisor Karl Rove about the failing Medicare Drug Program.
Pittman noted that many of the Medicare Drug Plans are paying less than the covered drugs cost. The pharmacists said, "Pharmacies are losing money on Medicare and slow payments by Medicare drug plans has caused cash-flow problems for many pharmacies". Pittman reiterated, "If pharmacists don't receive immediate relief, some will go broke. Others are hurting so bad that they will choose not to participate in Medicare and Medicaid". Medicare drug plans often take 30 days or more to pay pharmacies, compared with payments within seven to 15 days for Medicaid and commercial insurance plans, another particpant noted.
Clearly the Bush Administration needs to fix this mess. Independent pharmacies just can't afford to operate this way nor should they be expected to carry the load for Medicare. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you cannot sell drugs or any product for less than it costs. Apparently, even the amount that the druggists are due is getting hung up in very slow payments by the Medicare Drug plans. I don't think this was the idea of how the program should work.
The scary thing is that druggists may just opt out of the Medicare and Medicaid programs altogether like many physcians already do. Then where will people with disabilities and elderly people get their drugs? It's a bad joke
© Daniel Scarborough, 2006
