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News
Your source on union-negotiated health care
benefits
State
employee prescription drug coverage not accepted at CVS pharmacies, effective
April 18
Jan. 20, 2005 -
CVS has decided it will no longer participate in the network of retail
pharmacists for state of Ohio employees enrolled in the Ohio Med PPO.
The retail pharmacy has done this as a protest to the state’s mandatory
mail order program for maintenance drugs which has been in place since
1992, explained Marianne Steger, OCSEA Director of Health Care Policy
and Human Resources.
"While we are concerned about their departure,
there is very little we can do to prevent CVS from taking this action,"
Steger said. "In fact CVS has decided to leave other employers like
Toyota who also have mandatory mail programs."
Steger co-chairs the Joint Health
Care Committee.
While a number of state employees have used CVS, 98.9
percent of State of Ohio employees will have at least
one retail pharmacist within 1.5 miles of their home—even
after CVS leaves the network.
"The truth is that in most areas of the state there
is an abundance of retail pharmacists," Steger explained. "In
fact, most employees regularly use between 2 and 3 separate retail
pharmacies, often opting for the one conveniently located to
either their work or home."
The reason the state and the union agreed to
a mandatory mail order program for prescription drugs is because
mail order programs save substantial amounts of money.
By reducing the overall costs of prescription drugs we keep the overall
health care premium down which in turn keeps employee’s
share of the premium down.
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