Negotiations have broken down between Walgreens and rival CVS Caremark, and Walgreens has withdrawn as a provider from four of their prescription plans.

Customers affected include members of prescription benefit plans managed by CVS Caremark for ArcelorMittal, Johnson Controls, Inc., Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. and Wisconsin Education Association Trust, the company said.

Walgreen added that the change mostly affects customers living in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.

“This is not where we wanted negotiations to lead,” said Trent Taylor, president of Walgreens Health Services, the company’s managed care division. “We’re sorry that our pharmacy patients and CVS Caremark’s clients are caught in the middle, and we’ll do all we can to ensure a smooth transition for our patients to another pharmacy.”

Walgreens says that reimbursement levels for the plans were “drastically below market.”

We can’t imagine that we won’t see more of this, now that CVS owns Caremark.

Walgreen drops CVS prescription plans [CNNMoney]
(Photo:cmorran123)

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