$1 billion drug benefits contract to CVS Caremark: TRS urged to examine further before voting

Controversy has erupted around the Board of the Teacher Retirement System’s plan to vote on a $1 billion drug benefits contract on Thursday. CVS Caremark, a pharmacy benefits manager that also owns the country’s largest drugstore chain, currently contracts with TRS to provide drug benefits for retirees. A coalition of groups is calling for further study before any Board vote in the wake of reported service problems with CVS Caremark, decisions by plans in Texas and other states to drop CVS, and media reports that the company pushes seniors to fill prescriptions at its own CVS drugstores despite higher costs.

At the TRS board meeting on Thursday, retiree group representatives will testify about problems their members have encountered with CVS Caremark. Independent pharmacists will discuss the unfair advantage the state contract gives CVS drugstores in competing with their small businesses.

Alarmed About CVS Caremark is a Change to Win initiative to educate consumers, health plan managers and trustees about the newly merged CVS Caremark, now the country's largest pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) and largest retail pharmacy chain. Our reports, CVS Caremark: An Alarming Prescription and CVS Caremark: An Alarming Merger, detail the troubling patterns exhibited by both CVS and Caremark prior to their merger, and explores the new risks presented by the merged entity CVS Caremark.