Reimbursement cuts that are forcing drugstores to fill many prescriptions at a loss are pushing pharmacists out of business, including a dozen that have closed in Western and Central Pennsylvania in recent months, store owners told a state Senate hearing Monday.
The three big pharmacy benefit managers that dominate the wholesale drug market are forcing drugstores to pay more for drugs than pharmacists are paid to fill the prescription, Chris Antypas, president of Asti’s South Hills Pharmacy in Castle Shannon, told members of the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Policy Committee. Losses from filling prescriptions, such as the new class of diabetes and weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic, can mean having to cover $150 of the cost, causing more stores to turn out the lights, he said.
“I’m just so fed up,” Mr. Antypas said. “I just can’t continue to do this. The math just doesn’t add up. Can we get past politics to get meaningful legislation passed?”
State Democratic Senators Katie Muth, from Chester County, and Art Haywood, Montgomery County, co-chaired the hearing, which was intended to inform lawmakers on legislative issues. Companion bills in the state House and Senate would enable the state Insurance Department to resolve complaints between pharmacists and pharmacy benefit managers and prohibit PBMs from steering patients to their own retail drug suppliers.
