US Department of Justice announced a lawsuit accusing pharmacy chain CVS of filling illegal opioid prescriptions and billing federal health insurance, contributing to a nationwide epidemic of opioid addiction and overdose.
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In 2005 my legs were shattered and many flesh wounds down to bones with missing pieces of tissue. My husband had to plead for 1 pain pill for me at CVS then get a new script and go through the awful process again. It wasn’t so easy to get and the script allowed for 2 pills a day for many weeks
I guess I did - but have seen others complain that aren’t aware of why.. 🤷♀️ What sucks is that they have recently reported that the other ingredient in the unrestricted version really doesn’t work …
Meanwhile, pain patients are undermedicated and over controlled because they fear we "might get addicted" to our prosthetics! Why do actual pain patients have to be punished for other people's crimes?
Drug dealers go to jail. CVS CEO'S should be held responsible for their crimes. Time not fines!
Is CVS in a position to scrutinize which prescriptions are necessary or not without putting themselves at even greater legal peril?
It's the "pill mill" doctors that are the root cause, it seems. Even then, is it actually a crime to write prescriptions for people who claim to need them?
I can’t believe after all this time, the corruption, fraud etc. plus horrific bad yet legal practices are beginning to get put under the microscope and investigated👏🏼
We need to reign in the $M/B CEOs, Execs etc. of these companies.
I hope it starts happening to healthcare/Ins./pharma gross greed!
And who was supposed to be catching that fraud? Oh wait we defund the federal departments that are are designed to monitor for that fraud ( and the same in the states)🤷♀️ See what our taxes are supposed to pay for..
It’s easy for CVS to get away with it. Everyone stops reading those mile-long receipts after the first three lines. ANYTHING could be hidden in plain sight further down.
Who or whom ever approved this needs to go to jail. It’s way past time to put these companies leaders in prison and F the corporations aren’t people. They are run by people and therefore should fall under normal laws and not allowed to scapegoat their roles.
What do we think the DOJ definitions of “extremely high doses” or “excessive quantities”’of opioids might be?
The number of (often disabled) people with complex health conditions which require higher med doses, “trinities” of meds, may have to pay cash BECAUSE INSURANCE BARRIERS, etc etc is MANY. 🤬
I had an 8 mm kidney stone. My CVS wax OUT of hydrocodone. AND, the script was for 12. I’ll just die next time. What a damn nightmare, everything about that tiny fucken stone sucked.
I had to pay cash for RX opioids last year at my usual pharmacy after a total knee replacement; insurer was demanding further prior authorizations. It was a weekend. I was in agony.
Pharmacist: “we don’t normally let people pay cash but I’ll try to make an exception.”
UHC was dragging their feet regarding a script written by my doctor. CVS refused to fill awaiting insurance approval. I paid cash for it .Then, UHC was all blowed up because I paid for it myself.
🚨Reader beware.🚨
The ACSH is funded by corporations and tends to lean toward deregulation issues. Though not scientifically wrong, they exhibit a bias in favor of businesses.
They are certainly Libertarian, and I absolutely do not agree w/all of their policy analyses.
ACSH also happen to have some of the clearest & most accurate reporting on the truth behind the OD crisis and the billions made by attorneys in the litigation narrative.
I’m sure they will blame it on their pharmacists next. One pharmacist working 12+ hours a day with next to no technician help expected to do everything. This is yet another part of healthcare in this country that needs to change
Which leads to more unmitigated pain management, PTSD and mental diagnosis’s for the rest of us.
Just another scam for profit of the medical industrial complex.
Doctors are already more invested in their lifestyles and licenses than they could give a Fuck about the Hippocratic Oath.
It’s here now.
If you have a CVS/pharmacy, CVS/caremark or CVS/specialty account, go straight to your list of prescriptions and make absolutely sure that there is nothing listed which you have not ordered. Check the doctors who prescribed them. And see if there was anything picked up somewhere you haven't been.
The Ohio investigation found that CVS severely under staffs their pharmacies which leads to mistakes. Management bonuses are even tied to eliminating hours from the schedule. When CVS closed a pharmacy, the store absorbing the prescriptions weren't allowed to increase staff.
So they sue the corporations- collect a fine and then nothing happens.. Why they keep doing it until they get caught- obviously fines aren’t a deterrent and we don’t have good enough real time
Management options to catch it quickly- why not??
Where are the state or federal reporting systems that are supposed to be monitoring this in real time ,Eric? Purdue Pharma was charged in 2007 and it was earlier than that that they were aware of the situation that led to those charges?
Know that pharmacies require you to sign for narcotics but here we are
17 years later not monitoring that at
the state or federal levels and being proactive about enforcing our laws??
This irritates me to no end. I have a family member with a degenerative spinal disorder that causes daily excruciating pain, legitimately needs pain medication - it's more and more difficult to get prescriptions filled to treat people with actual pain. Frustrating to witness firsthand.
Let's see if this lawsuit survives in 2025...I doubt it. The corruption that major corporations get away with in the next 4 years is going to be staggering. My only hope is this ushers in a 21st Century equivalent of the New Deal with high taxes on ultra rich people and companies returning...
along with other major programs to redistribute wealth and create more equality (especially closing racial and gender equality gaps). Dems need to start planning now for how to capitalize on the anger from the general population when they see the abject greed visible now & rising for next 4 years.
"CVS Health Corporation ... owns CVS Pharmacy, a retail pharmacy chain; CVS Caremark, a [PBM]; and Aetna, a health insurance provider, among many other brands. The company is the world's second largest healthcare company, behind UnitedHealth Group."
From what I understand though, their purchase of Aetna has backfired and they're not doing so well. They never should have been allowed to OWN AN INSURANCE COMPANY to begin with.
2) The newly unsealed complaint in Providence, Rhode Island, federal court alleges that, from October 2013 to the present, CVS violated the federal Controlled Substances Act by filling prescriptions for dangerous quantities of opioids and dangerous combinations of drugs.
And not surprisingly many large tech companies use them as the pharmacy of choice with cut-rate health insurance. I can only use CVS and if I chose local my insurance doesn't cover it.
3) It said the company regularly filled prescriptions from doctors running so-called pill mills, dispensing large quantities of opioids without legitimate medical reason.
I have Anthem BC/BS. They REQUIRE you to use CVS/caremark for refills after a certain number. My wife cannot get her medications through the local pharmacy.
And until now they were my favorite pharmacy chain (not saying much) because they refused to sell cigarettes. Now I understand: They needed the shelf space for opioids.
No, that can't be right – one of the reasons I switched all my scripts to Walgreens was that I've had so much trouble getting my *legal* ones from CVS!
Comments
to be purchased in certain amounts..
Drug dealers go to jail. CVS CEO'S should be held responsible for their crimes. Time not fines!
It's the "pill mill" doctors that are the root cause, it seems. Even then, is it actually a crime to write prescriptions for people who claim to need them?
We need to reign in the $M/B CEOs, Execs etc. of these companies.
I hope it starts happening to healthcare/Ins./pharma gross greed!
The number of (often disabled) people with complex health conditions which require higher med doses, “trinities” of meds, may have to pay cash BECAUSE INSURANCE BARRIERS, etc etc is MANY. 🤬
Failing to explain how RX numbers are lower than they’ve been in 30 years yet deaths are still off the charts.
Patients with real pain abandoned in agony, while street drugs became increasingly lethal.
Pharmacist: “we don’t normally let people pay cash but I’ll try to make an exception.”
👀
Cash is US legal tender …?
Long before the uptick in RX opioid prescribing began in the 1990s, heroin was already tainted w/illicit fentanyl. It was called China White.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%91-Methylfentanyl
Yet in 2018 they were still doing it.
To this day the American public thinks RX caused it all.
It was never true. 🤷🏻♀️
https://www.acsh.org/news/2018/03/19/cdc-quietly-admits-it-screwed-dishonestly-counting-pills-12717
The ACSH is funded by corporations and tends to lean toward deregulation issues. Though not scientifically wrong, they exhibit a bias in favor of businesses.
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/american-council-on-science-and-health/
ACSH also happen to have some of the clearest & most accurate reporting on the truth behind the OD crisis and the billions made by attorneys in the litigation narrative.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/top-law-firms-us-opioid-lawsuits-get-hundreds-millions-fees-2024-06-07/
Just another scam for profit of the medical industrial complex.
Doctors are already more invested in their lifestyles and licenses than they could give a Fuck about the Hippocratic Oath.
It’s here now.
Fill this opioid prescription.
No, wait, actually you can’t do that.
Or, maybe, you can: The dilemma for community pharmacists
https://www.cvshealth.com/impact/healthy-community/our-opioid-response.html
Management options to catch it quickly- why not??
17 years later not monitoring that at
the state or federal levels and being proactive about enforcing our laws??
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CVS_Health
"CVS Health Corporation ... owns CVS Pharmacy, a retail pharmacy chain; CVS Caremark, a [PBM]; and Aetna, a health insurance provider, among many other brands. The company is the world's second largest healthcare company, behind UnitedHealth Group."
https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/18/business/doj-cvs-opioid/index.html
They still exist, despite the national chains trying to put them out of business.
Independent pharmacis also accept insurance for scripts
That's like having an HMO for rx coverage.