Walgreens (WAG) Willing to Remain in Tricare Network Amid Express Scripts (ESRX) Refusal to Separate Unit
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More than a quarter of a million U.S. military personnel, family members, retirees and others in the Department of Defense Tricare pharmacy benefits program, and their supporters, so far have signed petitions demanding access to Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) pharmacies under the Tricare pharmacy program. The pace of petition signatures from Tricare members seeking to retain access to Walgreens and their supporters has reached more than 10,000 per week in recent weeks.
Walgreens said the refusal by Express Scripts, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESRX), the pharmacy benefit manager for Tricare, to separate the Tricare business from its other business disputes with Walgreens suggests a willingness to sacrifice the needs of Tricare beneficiaries, an action especially surprising in light of the outpouring of support from U.S. military families for continued access to Walgreen pharmacies.
Meanwhile, Walgreens has repeatedly offered to remain in the Tricare pharmacy network through proposals to Express Scripts that are designed to prevent disruption to military personnel, families and retirees. These proposals would protect Tricare member choice of Walgreens and provide savings to the program and taxpayers. Specifically, Walgreens has:
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Walgreens said the refusal by Express Scripts, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESRX), the pharmacy benefit manager for Tricare, to separate the Tricare business from its other business disputes with Walgreens suggests a willingness to sacrifice the needs of Tricare beneficiaries, an action especially surprising in light of the outpouring of support from U.S. military families for continued access to Walgreen pharmacies.
Meanwhile, Walgreens has repeatedly offered to remain in the Tricare pharmacy network through proposals to Express Scripts that are designed to prevent disruption to military personnel, families and retirees. These proposals would protect Tricare member choice of Walgreens and provide savings to the program and taxpayers. Specifically, Walgreens has:
- Offered to negotiate the Tricare renewal separately from Express Scripts’ commercial business in order to continue to provide Walgreens services on an uninterrupted basis to all active and retired military personnel.
- Offered to lower Tricare reimbursement rates across the board resulting in double-digit million dollar savings to the U.S. military and taxpayers over the next few years.
- Provided an ironclad guarantee that Walgreens prices would match or beat the average costs per adjusted prescription of all other retail pharmacies in the Tricare network. Those costs would be compared on an apples-to-apples basis and verified by an objective third party each quarter. Walgreens also committed to reimbursing Tricare for any overage following the end of each quarterly review.
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TriCare
Daniel Skopp on Dec 9, 2011 04:13 PMMark as Spam
I sincerely hope that Walgreens can continue to serve the TriCare Family of Retired and Active Duty Members. To lose Walgreens would be a non brillant move.