Court Orders Walgreens To Keep Filling Prescriptions
Many Teachers Affected By Dispute
Updated: 8:30 am CST November 14,2007
MADISON, Wis. -- A court has ordered Walgreens to keep filling prescriptions until the end of the month.Madison-based insurer, WEA Trust, had said its 140,000 members are innocent bystanders in a last-minute, high-stakes battle between its provider of pharmacy coverage and the nation's largest drug store chain, WISC-TV reported.Public school employees insured by WEA Trust were facing a possible pharmacy change as soon as Tuesday because Walgreen's terminated its contract with WEA Trust's pharmacy benefit manager with only 10 days notice.That manager -- CVS Caremark -- on Tuesday sought a temporary restraining order in federal court and got it.A judge said that Walgreens did not give proper notice and must continue service until Nov. 29.In a letter, Walgreens told WEA Trust and the other companies that, "CVS Caremark is trying to dictate below-market payments to Walgreens for your prescription plan."Michael Polzin, a media relations spokesman for Walgreens, said that it had no choice in terminating the contract."We have been negotiating a number of months to resolve this issue. Overall, we're getting paid well below what is typical and we can't continue at that rate," Polzin said.
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