Earlier this year, Walgreens and Express Scripts had a dispute that resulted in a separation between the two companies. This left thousands of people scrambling to find another pharmacy because Walgreens wasn’t in their network anymore. How will the renewal of the relationship between these two companies affect you, and your health insurance coverage?
Express Scripts is one of the biggest pharmacy benefit managers in the United States. Health insurance companies hire Express Scripts to negotiate prices for medications, and to oversee prescription drug programs. Walgreens, of course, is a popular pharmacy where plenty of people go to get their prescription medications. There was a time when these two companies worked together in order to provide customers with an inexpensive way to purchase the medications that their doctor’s prescribed.
In January of 2012, Walgreens and Express Scripts had a dispute. It is not unusual for a pharmacy and a pharmacy benefits management company to periodically enter into negotiations. The problem this time was that Walgreens felt that Express Scripts was asking for too much money. An agreement could not be reached. It wouldn’t be incorrect to say that the two companies “broke up”.
The result of this dispute affected thousands of customers. People who had been coming to Walgreens to fill their prescriptions suddenly learned that Walgreens wasn’t in their network anymore. This left people scrambling to find another pharmacy that was part of their insurer’s network. If they could not find one, then the person would be paying a lot more for their medications than they were used to.
You might recall that it didn’t take long for other pharmacies, who were still working with Express Scripts, to jump on this opportunity. Lots of little signs popped up in front of pharmacies and grocery stores that included a pharmacy that pointed out that Express Scripts customers could go there for their prescriptions. People had to switch pharmacies, and so, they did.
Now, Walgreens and Express Scripts have announced a new multiyear agreement. Specific details about this agreement have not been revealed.
How does this affect your health insurance coverage? Flip over your health insurance card. Does it say “Express Scripts” on the back? If not, then this change may not affect you at all.
If your insurance policy covers prescription medication from pharmacies that are working with Express Scripts, then you have some options. You can continue to use the pharmacy that you switched to after Walgreens was no longer in your network. Or, you could go back to Walgreens. Before you do, I would advise checking with your insurer, to make certain that Walgreens really is in your network again. Personally, I would also wait to see if Walgreens offers a deal for returning customers before I switched back.
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