Mainline Pharmacy announcing the closure of most of it’s locations.
The company says it lost more than $350 thousand dollars so far in 2024.
Zac Kaye has more on what they say happened and how the community is reacting.
The Director of Pharmacy for Mainline says that if they were just breaking even, they would still be in business. He explains that they have been losing hundreds of dollars on some prescriptions.
He says they buy the drugs from a wholesaler, but they have no control over the price set by the Pharmacy Benefit Managers or PBM’s.
He says there are three major PBM’s that control most of the market. These companies work with an individual’s insurance company and their pharmacy and reimburse the pharmacy.
“What’s a guy with a couple of pharmacies going to do if they go up against them.”
Pastorek says the future of locally owned pharmacies isn’t bright unless something about the process changes.
One local resident says she’s not sure if she will be able to establish the same sort of relationship she has with the folks at Mainline anywhere else.
“I’m devastated, I’ve been coming here 22 years and I just live right up the road here so it was just so convenient and the pharmacist staff has just been fabulous, so understanding and going out on
a limb if I ever needed them.”
Another customer says you don’t get the same service at one of the big pharmacies.
“People get to know you there, you come in all the time, they get to know your prescriptions, the neighborhood knows everybody, especially in the elderly and the people that live close by, they
really depend on these local pharmacies.”
“These customers are like my family and the last thing I want is for them to be scrambling and their health to be at risk.”