Walgreens' Pill Scam
America’s
largest pharmacy and drugstore chain is accused by a former Federal
Prosecutor of scamming taxpayers out of millions of dollars by changing
types of prescription medications.
Former
prosecutor Michael Behn says a whistleblower pharmacist says Walgreens
exploited a Medicaid loophole in pricing pills. Behn said Medicaid
limits how much it pays for popular forms of drugs. But Medicaid did
not set price-ceilings on capsules of the same medication because the
capsules were rarely used.
Behn
gave this example: Generic Zantac an antacid is a huge seller and it is
sold in tablet form, and Medicaid limits payment to 34 cents a piece.
But the same generic drug sold as a capsule has no price-ceiling
because it is rarely prescribed. Medicaid pays $1.25 each.
The
whistleblower pharmacist at Walgreens said they would switch the
prescription from tablets to capsules, making more than three-times the
money per capsule. That brought in millions of dollars in taxpayer
money to Walgreens. The Walgreens’ pharmacist said the company rigged
its computers to automatically switch to the move expensive type of
pill. Behn says this could have only been done by a national Walgreens’ computer change. In
Florida
alone it cost taxpayers an extra $1.2 million just in the first
year. Behn said the pill switching went on nationwide for several
years. The pharmacist said the generic Prozac for depression, and the
generic Eldepryl for Parkinson’s were switched.
Walgreens
denied it did anything wrong but declined an interview. But they have
agreed to pay back $35-Million in tax money to the government.
But
they are not the only national pharmacies that were apparently
caught, CVS and Omnicare have agreed to pay back about $86-Million in
Medicaid funds.
How
should these major companies be punished for pill switching? Should
they lose their pharmacy license for a year or six months?
Let us hear from you so we can post your thoughts on the Speak Out Page. Click here.
Filed December 2002.
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