(NNPA)—The Federal Trade Commission is considering whether to allow a corporate merger that could result in great strides backward for African-Americans and others suffering from economic and health ills.
Stick with me, because it gets a little complicated.
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Express Scripts, Inc. and Medco Health Solutions are giant, multi-billion dollar corporations that control prescription drug benefits for hundreds of millions of Americans. Known as pharmacy benefit managers, these companies decide which pharmacies people can visit, what prescription drugs are available for purchase, and how much these medications will cost. They also decide how much community pharmacies will be paid for filling prescriptions.
The potential merger affects so many people, and raises so many antitrust issues, that the FTC is reviewing it to see if it should be allowed at all, and if so, under what conditions.
If these two companies are allowed to join forces, they will control the majority of the prescription market–and decision-making–in several key areas, including mail order and specialty pharmacy, and will dwarf the remaining PBMs in size and prescription volume. The increased level of market control will give the merged company the power to increase prices and push out rivals, including community pharmacies.
Don’t just take my word for it. Senator Herb Kohl, D-Wis., is the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights. When it comes to anti trust matters, he is an expert. In a letter to Jonathan Leibowitz, chairman of the FTC, Kohl asks that the agency carefully scrutinize the merger. He cites concerns that the merger will reduce competition, raise prices for consumers, and threaten community and chain drug stores.
Kohl believes “the stakes for American consumers, health plan sponsors, and our nation’s network of local pharmacies arising out of this transaction are very high…” He is right. And the stakes are even higher for African-Americans than for the average American consumer.
If prices go up, as expected under this merger, and community pharmacies are no longer able to compete in the hostile climate created by the PBMs, African-Americans throughout the country will lose access to needed medications and other pharmacy services.
African-Americans are more likely to be afflicted with life-threatening diseases like heart disease, diabetes and cancer than whites. Infant mortality is higher. We are less likely to be immunized against common, easily-preventable illnesses. So the convenient, localized services provided by community pharmacies in our neighborhoods are especially important.
The ESI/Medco merger will make matters worse by increasing prescription drug prices and causing community pharmacies to fail, including, notably, a number of minority-owned businesses.
ESI, is already dropping popular pharmacies from its network, pre-merger. It recently dumped Walgreens, the nation’s largest pharmacy chain, eliminating access for the many people of color who live near these stores. CEO George Paz told Sen. Kohl at a Judiciary Subcommittee hearing about the merger, “I can’t stop certain pharmacies from going out of business.”
Viewed in light of existing health disparities and economic difficulties, and the indifference of the PBM executives, there are no benefits for African-American consumers in allowing the merger to proceed.
(Harry Alford is the co-founder, president/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce®. Website: www.nationalbcc.org. Email: halford@nationalbcc.org.)
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