April 30th, 2010

Reports the Times-Tribune:

About 75,000 people across the region will soon have to choose: mail order or pharmacy.

In March, Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania announced a new prescription plan called Select Home Delivery. Any customer with recurring prescriptions for medications used to treat chronic health issues like asthma, diabetes or high cholesterol will have to choose whether to continue filling their prescriptions at a pharmacy or sign up for mail-order delivery. The mail-order option does not extend to prescriptions for antibiotics, pain relievers and other medications that are not typically refilled every month, Blue Cross officials said.

The new plan begins Saturday and will affect about 12 percent of the 585,000 people who have Blue Cross insurance across the region, said spokesman Anthony Matrisciano. Blue Cross is using Express Scripts, based in St. Louis, as the mail-order provider. Express Scripts has been its mail-order provider since 2000.

Blue Cross officials said moving to mail order may result in significant savings for customers and to Blue Cross, although officials could not say how much the company would save.

Local pharmacists, however, are concerned the new prescription plan could cause problems for customers and, worse, drive smaller pharmacies out of business. Many, including Dan Iannielli, have urged customers to sign a petition protesting the new program and have started a letter-writing campaign.

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