CVS Faces National Boycott Over Birth Control Reimbursement Rate Feud
GoLocalProv News Team
CVS Faces National Boycott Over Birth Control Reimbursement Rate Feud
Pill Club — which describes itself as offering “a prescribing service, medication fulfillment, and free delivery of birth control care packages (in participating states) with ‘fun gifts and goodies’" — is telling its members with pharmacy coverage through CVS Caremark that they "are at risk of their birth control access being disrupted” by CVS’ proposed payment changes.
“Pill Club and CVS Caremark are feuding over how much CVS pays Pill Club to send prescriptions to its customers. The startup posted a plea on its website, "CVS, don't take away access to birth control," and the issue trended on Twitter on Thursday morning under the hashtag #CVSDeniesCare. A second hashtag, #BoycottCVS, trended later in the day,” wrote Business Insider this week.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“And with that, a feud between corporations over reimbursement rates turned into a battle over hot-button issues like access to contraception and women's rights. The American Civil Liberties Union weighed in, as did the president of the pro-abortion-rights advocacy group NARAL Pro-Choice America.”
On its website, Pill Club writes
We believe that CVS simply doesn’t understand how devastating these cuts will be to Pill Club and the women we serve. We believe they are trying to save money without knowing all of the consequences. We hope CVS will change course when they know how important Pill Club is to you and all our members.
If we cannot convince CVS to change course in the next few weeks, we will have no choice but to stop serving people with CVS Caremark pharmacy benefits. The reality is that we would be out of business if every pharmacy manager did what CVS is doing. And thousands of women would be without the birth control they need. We just need CVS/Caremark to honor our current contract and the payment rates that were in place until July 5. That’s all.
CVS Responds — Pill Club Fires Back
CVS responded with the following statement:
"Our coverage of contraceptives is widespread throughout our network of 68,000 pharmacies, ensuring accessible and affordable access to our members. The accusations made by The Pill Club against CVS Caremark are extremely misleading. The Pill Club continues to be a participating pharmacy in our network and there is no impact on its customers’ access to contraceptives. We are committed to providing access to women’s health care and it is irresponsible for The Pill Club to suggest otherwise in an effort to maximize their profits at the expense of our PBM clients."
Pill Club responded in turn.
"Untrue. Tens of thousands of women will lose access to birth control because of your rate change. That’s a fact (if you release the contract, everyone would know). But let’s stop debating on social media. Let's meet, agree on a revised agreement, and protect women’s healthcare."