Oklahoma lawmakers insist shoppers have not lost their 90-day window for prescriptions, despite what CVS is telling them.
CVS Caremark customers have been notified via letter or email citing an Oklahoma law passed in 2019 as the reason the pharmacy can no longer deal with 90-day prescriptions. Lawmakers were so outraged over the news that Democrats and Republicans held a joint press conference to clear the air. Breaking up the length of prescriptions would require more money and more store visits for shoppers.
The law CVS has referred to actually gives people the right to shop around prescriptions to avoid extreme markups on price. The fear was large pharmacies like CVS would form a monopoly. Lawmakers said CVS is spreading misinformation and that the retailer has made a business decision to stop filling 90-day prescriptions.
Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready said he has been trying to work with CVS since the law was passed, but claimed CVS, based in Woonsocket, R.I., always throwed it back as a technical or contractual issue with employees, and one that can’t be fixed until the next year. The commission is now threatening to suspend or revoke CVS’s license if the behavior continues.
CVS released the following statement:
“We share the commitment of Commissioner Mulready and Oklahoma lawmakers to protecting Oklahomans’ access to affordable prescription drugs, and we look forward to continued dialogue with the Oklahoma Insurance Department (OID) and our clients to advance that shared goal.
“The OID recently determined that legislation enacted in 2019 is applicable to prescription benefits for certain multistate or national employers headquartered outside the state of Oklahoma. We have discussed with the OID our concerns about the impact changing uniform benefit design could have on consumers who rely on 90-day prescriptions. We continue to discuss this matter with the commissioner and look forward to resolving this situation with OID to avoid any interruption to patient benefits and protect Oklahomans’ access to affordable prescription drugs.”
