Earlier this month the Federal Trade Commission announced that it is refunding close to 13,000 beneficiaries who paid significantly more than they should have for their prescription drugs in their CVS Caremark Part D plans. In January, the FTC sued CVS Caremark for allegedly charging beneficiaries deceptive prices on a variety drugs, including those used for breast cancer and epilepsy. These high prices caused many beneficiaries to pay much more out of pocket than they should have, forcing some into the “donut hole”, or coverage gap where they are required to pay 50% of their drug costs much sooner than they otherwise would have. This recent settlement requires CVS Caremark to pay $5 million to reimburse those Medicare Part D beneficiaries affected by the price discrepancy. It also barres CVS from any such deceptive pricing strategies in the future.
Reimbursement checks were sent out early September to affected consumers; the checks are good for 60 days. If you know anyone who was affected by this, make sure they have received and cashed their check before early November 2012. More details on this settlement can be found on the FTC website.
People with questions on this issue can call an FTC toll-free hotline at 1-888-773-8392.
