Where do we start? The Ex-Dean writing below. Do you think they will listen to him? Texas and Louisiana are run by a bunch of reactionaries. Which means really on the right edge of ideology and policy. $7.13 is a fair fee when your net cost is $85.00 or $8.50. $7.13 would cover the filling and some counseling. $1.53? !**@! you,I’m not counseling. If any of you still believe that the conservatives are looking out for small pharmacies in small towns with some struggling people…. Think $1.53. This bothers me a lot because we work our asses off so the managed care outfits (Think PBMs) can make a hell of a lot more profit than drug stores do, with no, or little, overhead. Makes me sick. How did we lose control of a noble industry? I’ll tell you how. By taking our bloated paychecks home and acting like we had no responsibility for our profession and industry. We went unconscious, bought a Lexus, took our wife to Nantucket for romance, sent our kids to the summer soccer camp and went to work and fought to make the metrics. That’s all. The companies we worked for sucked the big one of Medco and ESI and the rest. What did they get? Stores with million dollar businesses that barely covered costs. And the Masters of the Universe blamed us. ”You don’t work fast enough. Your wait times are too long. You refused to fill an OxyContin prescription for a guy from two states away”. They pulled technician hours and you get to work all alone for two hours at night. Why? Because they don’t make enough money and they don’t make enough money because they are the !**@! of Bruno, the PBM guy. Jay Pee. That was fun, but it hurts. 40 years ago, the profit was 40%.
Pharmacists will be valuable in Medicaid overhaul
Texas recently moved its Medicaid pharmacy patients into a new managed care system. Pharmacies and patients alike are struggling to adjust. Private companies, outside of Texas, administering the program have dramatically reduced reimbursement fees to community pharmacies. This has led in many instances to a reduction in services, some pharmacy business failures and patients, especially in poor, underserved areas, less access to needed care. Patients rely upon their pharmacist for many of their important health care needs. Pharmacists are among the most accessible health care practitioners in our communities.
The Texas Medicaid dispensing fee that pharmacies receive per prescription wasreduced from $7.13 to $1.53 in March ofthis year. Many pharmacies have beenforced to close as a result of this massivereduction in reimbursement, while othersdesperately search for ways to keep theirdoors open for their patients. Our Texasexample should serve as a cautionary talefor Louisiana’s leaders.
mom in Baton Rouge.
Pharmacies are vital to Louisiana’s health
Saving 
