AP News, January 2, 2021.
CHICAGO (AP) — A December decision by insurer Aetna to drop Walgreens from its Illinois Medicaid plan is making it harder for thousands of low-income Chicago residents to get their prescriptions filled.
The Chicago Tribune reports Aetna’s decision to exclude the Walgreens chain from its Aetna Better Health of Illinois pharmacy network affects about 400,000 state residents. Many of them are poor and critics say they are already disproportionately those suffering from COVID-19 and unemployment.
“Even if medications are affordable, if the pharmacy isn’t accessible, they’re not accessible,” Dima Qato, an assistant professor in the department of pharmacy systems, outcomes and policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago told the Tribune.