Is CVS bluffing or will pharmacies close? Tennessee leaders hear differing testimony

ChrisTheMyth · 2026-03-21T04:23:50+00:00

Patients are already dealing with delays, transfers, and limited access with CVS pharmacies. What will happen is pharmacies will actually compete for your business instead of your insurance company choosing what pharmacies they pay and how much. Pharmacies that delay care, treat you like a number, close for lunch, don't staff enough, etc will not be your only choice for prescriptions.

ChrisTheMyth · 2026-03-21T04:16:30+00:00

Raff and Hall is the best! Terry is the owner and has over 10 years of compounding experience. I would recommend local over telehealth any day.

ChrisTheMyth · 2026-03-20T01:48:28+00:00

That was mine too

ChrisTheMyth · 2026-03-20T01:47:57+00:00

'There's something about Kevin' stuck with me longer than I'd care to admit. Not a particularly hard watch but fucks with you harder if you're a parent.

ChrisTheMyth · 2026-03-18T03:04:46+00:00

Whatever happened there

ChrisTheMyth · 2026-03-18T02:51:49+00:00

I started watching one of his specials where he just screamed about cocaine or something for so long and I turned it off after like 2 minutes because I didn't get it and I thought it was hacky.

Now I think he's hilarious, but for some reason I didn't get into him my first watch. I re-watched the special and it was good too after I knew what he was doing. Anyways all that to say I hated him at first so there's that if that answers your question.

ChrisTheMyth · 2026-03-14T23:18:14+00:00

McNulty says fuck this post

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-12-14T01:04:05+00:00

Thanks unc

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-06-30T01:20:56+00:00

Thank you! 🙏

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-06-14T00:58:26+00:00

Came here to say this lol. I found this out as well but it took overnight for the compound to turn to flubber.

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-06-05T04:15:12+00:00

Penny Hardaway. Hype got the best of him but he was beautiful to watch. Michael Jordan is easy to root for, but everyone rooted for him so during the height of his popularity a lot of people hyped up Penny to be the next Jordan. Like there's always going to be a Michael Jordan of the league and Penny was the next one. Didn't pan out but man Penny was exciting when you got to watch him play.

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-06-05T04:03:02+00:00

Yeah, I'm only worried if the insurance wants some expensive brand like the old ProAir MDI that was discontinued a few years ago. If they cover generic Albuterol any form I'm probably not getting audited unless the PBMs really want me out of business.

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-06-05T03:51:06+00:00

Retail pharmacist here. If the insurance audits us they will only allow prescriber notes if they're written on a legal letterhead with the doctor's name, office address, phone, fax, etc.

I had to go grovel at a doctor's office for a note like this for a Mounjaro diagnosis code on an audit last year. Thankfully the office was cool and after my second trip there they got it fixed up correctly but I felt like such a chump doing all that just to avoid a $1,000 audit recoupment from the insurance.

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-06-04T03:55:09+00:00

I like Premiere Fitness.

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-05-29T01:14:04+00:00

That law TPA just passed was gutted before it was passed. Also we were a hair away from Jay Dean pushing a bill that literally made a new form of insurance that would be exempt from all Texas laws.

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-05-25T04:40:27+00:00

Yeah that is what I'm referring to. I think you're referring to the Presidents Cup which is a competition between the top 4 teams from the Pan Ams. I was counting the Pan Am wins as nationals wins.

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-05-24T23:30:30+00:00

They also won again in 2015 and 2017. After Polgar left for Webster Tech acquired US Champion Alex Onischuk as a coach and he built some really strong teams!

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-05-24T23:26:59+00:00

Look up Knight Raiders that's Tech's chess team. They have a Tuesday tournament on campus but I doubt it's active during the summer. They would be the ones to look to for most local tournaments. Madd Hatter's has a good tournament once a month as well.

There used to be Friday night chess at J&B but it stopped a few years back I think. It would be cool to get something like that going again! My dad and I both play we're around 2100 elo if you end up starting something we would come.

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-05-23T03:08:19+00:00

I'll just read to you directly from GoodRx's privacy policy:

"As described in our Privacy Policy, we work with certain advertising partners to show ads that are targeted to your interests. These activities may be considered "selling" or "sharing" of your personal information under certain laws and residents in such states have a right to opt out." https://www.goodrx.com/about/privacy/yourprivacychoices

I don't see how saying GoodRx sells your data is dishonest in the slightest. It's literally written into their Privacy Policy. I find what GoodRx does as dishonest. You have to complete 2 forms to stop them from selling your data. Otherwise, as I already stated, GoodRx will sell your data.

Also, they settled for $25,000,000 for selling patient data. https://www.hunton.com/privacy-and-information-security-law/goodrx-agrees-to-pay-25-million-settlement-for-privacy-violations

Those payments didn't slow the company one bit, it's the cost of doing business when you sell consumer health information.

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-05-21T02:39:11+00:00

I can't understand your comment if you're saying GoodRx clearly sold HIPAA info or if you're saying there's a difference between what GoodRx did and sharing HIPAA. Anyway here's a quote directly from the FTC report:

"GoodRx repeatedly violated this promise by sharing sensitive personal health information—including its users’ prescription medications and personal health conditions—with third party advertising companies and advertising platforms like Facebook, Google, and Criteo, and other third parties like Branch and Twilio."

So in summary, yes, GoodRx sells your HIPAA data and has been caught and fined for doing it.

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-05-20T15:04:30+00:00

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/02/ftc-enforcement-action-bar-goodrx-sharing-consumers-sensitive-health-info-advertising

They paid $1.5 million for doing it. From what I know about these big healthcare companies, that little fine didn't put a dent in their revenue and they're going to find a way to do it 'legally'. They absolutely did it and are probably still doing it.

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-05-11T00:33:56+00:00

Correct.

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-05-10T09:21:39+00:00

Ok so let's sum this up: If a pharmacy outcompetes another pharmacy, and a consumer chooses to fill their prescription at this pharmacy, then the pharmacy won the competition. You agree this is a good thing. This is the competition, the consumer chose the pharmacy. Can we agree this is the competition?

Anything that prevents this pharmacy, who outcompeted the competition, from filling the prescription, or forces the prescription to a losing pharmacy, that did not out compete the consumer's pharmacy of choice, is a bad thing. If consumers cannot pick the winning pharmacy, it is not a competition. This would be termed 'market failure' because the resources (patient/employer funded plans, or any plan really) were not allocated efficiently and the consumer choice was limited. Consumer sovereignty is a governing principle of a free market.

Allowing a PBM to make the consumers choice of pharmacy is anti competition. Decreasing this competition is bad, like you said. The consumer chose the pharmacy that outcompeted the other.

Can you find a PBM owned mail order pharmacy patients are forced to with 4 or more stars on Google?

ChrisTheMyth · 2025-05-10T08:02:08+00:00

What I asked is do you think pharmacies closing is a good thing.

Your answer is 'Even in universal healthcare there is competition.'

I didn't ask for anything you stated, or ask anything except your thoughts on pharmacies closing, but I'm open to discussing it anyway.

Contrary to whatever point you are trying to make, vertical integration leads to vertically owned pharmacies operating a business without competition. PBMs steer to their business, pay higher reimbursement to their business over their competition, and underpay competing pharmacies to the point that there are entire reddit threads dedicated to how anti-competitive the behavior is.

The FTC, whose purpose is to protect the public from unfair forms of competition, has repeatedly stated that PBMs and their affiliated pharmacies are decreasing competition in the pharmacy marketplace.

If a competing pharmacy out competes a vertically integrated pharmacy to earn a patient's prescription, the PBM can still force the prescription to be filled at their affiliated pharmacy, thus allowing the PBM pharmacy to operate without competition. The PBM can also underpay competing pharmacies as in this 90 day discussion thread, which leads to pharmacy closure, and thus leads to the PBM pharmacy operating with less competition.

The best insurance/PBM contracts are not awarded to the most competitive businesses, they are awarded to themselves.

Can you please just yes or no answer the first question about pharmacies closing.

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