Walgreens: no new Medicaid patients as of April 16 (Washington State)

The savings that are considered in the ObamaCare bills will have unforeseen consequences and credit for these savings may be premature. The old " can't get blood out of a turnip" saying will come back to haunt the Democrats if they think they know more than the doctors, hospitals, druggists, and pharmaceutical companies about costs and cost containment.

Excerpt: Effective April 16, Walgreens drugstores across the state won't take any new Medicaid patients, saying that filling their prescriptions is a money-losing proposition — the latest development in an ongoing dispute over Medicaid reimbursement.

The company, which operates 121 stores in the state, will continue filling Medicaid prescriptions for current patients.

In a news release, Walgreens said its decision to not take new Medicaid patients stemmed from a "continued reduction in reimbursement" under the state's Medicaid program, which reimburses it at less than the break-even point for 95 percent of brand-name medications dispensed to Medicaid patents.

Walgreens follows Bartell Drugs, which stopped taking new Medicaid patients last month at all 57 of its stores in Washington, though it still fills Medicaid prescriptions for existing customers at all but 15 of those stores.

As an aside, through my wife's business, we had some relationship with the Bartell Drug store chain. The management has a great respect and caring for their customers and are not the evil businessmen that Obama would want you to believe. They are trying to make a good living for themselves and their employees and to do this, they cannot afford to sell prescriptions below cost. If you do not understand this, then you are a true Obama believer and you are a taker, not a contributor to our great society. Government takes, business creates. Read full article here.