Walgreens’ possible inclusion in gov’t health plan called threat to community pharmacies

San Juan District Sen. Juan Oscar Morales Rodríguez warned Monday about the intention of the Puerto Rico Health Services Administration (ASES by its acronym in Spanish) to include, without a public process or procedure, the Walgreens pharmacy chain in the service network of the government health plan, better known as Plan Vital, before the end of December.

“We have learned that ASES is in the process of opening the Plan Vital network to the entry of the Walgreens drugstore chain, which would be a death blow to our community pharmacies,” Morales said. “Doing this, just days before the end of this government administration and without an open and transparent process, is not the right thing to do and we strongly oppose it. I call on the governor to revoke the ASES’s authorization, if they are actually doing this process to include Walgreens.”

“The Vital Plan covers more than 1.3 million beneficiaries and in the case of pharmacy services, these have received their services, mostly, through community pharmacies and efficiently so for more than two decades,” the senator added. “Including a chain like Walgreens would cause a complete dislocation and put thousands of direct and indirect jobs at risk, as well as the solvency of hundreds of these community pharmacies. I hope that these rumors are just that, hallway talk and not a change of position without consulting anyone.”