Filling of prescriptions is harder with insurer s action Follow Us
Question of the Day By - Associated Press - Saturday, January 2, 2021
CHICAGO (AP) - A December decision by insurer Aetna to drop Walgreens from its Illinois Medicaid plan is making it harder for thousands of low-income Chicago residents to get their prescriptions filled.
The Chicago Tribune reports Aetna’s decision to exclude the Walgreens chain from its Aetna Better Health of Illinois pharmacy network affects about 400,000 state residents. Many of them are poor and critics say they are already disproportionately those suffering from COVID-19 and unemployment.
In a written statement, Aetna, which owns Walgreens’ rival CVS, responded it has nearly 2,000 in-network pharmacies statewide for Medicaid members, including independent pharmacies and those in national and regional chains such as Walmart and Jewel-Osco.
Aetna drops Walgreens coverage for Illinois Medicaid patients
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Their communities are deserted by pharmacies Advocates fear this will lead to inequitable vaccine access
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Pharmacy deserts: Covid-19 vaccine By Nicquel Terry Ellis, Nathaniel Meyersohn and Omar Jimenez © Scott Olson/Getty Images CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JUNE 23: Workers talk residents through a COVID-19 self-test at a mobile COVID-19 testing site set up on a vacant lot in the Austin neighborhood on June 23, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. The site is one of four mobile testing sites, two community-based sites and two first-responder-focused sites being implemented by the city. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Rochelle Sykes worries that her west side Chicago neighborhood will be left out when the Covid-19 vaccine becomes widely available next year.
The community, Sykes said, has no pharmacies or grocery stores within walking distance. And many of her neighbors don t own cars and suffer serious health conditions such as obesity and diabetes.