SACRAMENTO, California. – California’s Medicaid program will continue to pay Walgreens about $1.5 billion each year, even though Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said last month the state is Done business with the pharmacy Giant after hinting that he would not sell abortion pills through the mail in some states.
“California will not do business with @Walgreens — or any company that ducks extremists and puts women’s lives at risk. We’re done,” Newsom tweeted on March 6.
He then directed his government not to renew a $54 million contract with the company to provide prescription drugs to the state prison system.
But the severing of ties with Walgreens wasn’t as clear-cut as the governor first suggested. Walgreens has a much more lucrative connection to California’s Medicaid program — the joint federal and state health insurance program for people with disabilities or low-income people. Federal law states that Medicaid patients have the right to fill prescriptions from any willing and qualified provider.
This includes Walgreens.
Last year, California’s Medicaid program paid the company more than $1.5 billion. The California Department of Health said California will continue to comply with this law. Kaiser Health News reports.
“California has no intention of taking any action that might violate Medicaid requirements or undermine access for low-income individuals,” said Tony Cava, spokesman for the California Department of Health.
Governor’s spokesman Anthony York also told Kaiser Health News that the Newsom administration has asked Walgreens to reapply for the $54 million contract, which the state failed to renew last month.
“Tweering is not politics,” York told the news outlet.
This isn’t the first time Newsom has made a splashy announcement without first fleshing out all the details behind it. At the onset of the pandemic, the Newsom administration quickly signed a deal to purchase masks and other personal protective equipment. frustrates some lawmakers who didn’t know the details.
Newsom’s spat with Walgreens began after the company pointed it out would not distribute Abortion pills in the mail in some conservative states. This pill, mifepristone, when combined with another pill, will terminate a pregnancy. It has been approved in the US since 2000 for use up to the 10th week of pregnancy. More than half of all abortions in the United States today are performed this way, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that advocates for abortion rights.
Several states have taken steps to limit mifepristone after the US Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections last year. earlier this year, Attorneys General in 20 states, primarily with Republican governors, Walgreens warned there could be legal ramifications for distributing mifepristone in their states. Walgreens responded that it would not distribute mifepristone in states where it is not legal.
On Friday, Walgreens spokesman Fraser Engerman referred questions to Newsom’s office. But Engerman reiterated the company’s position on abortion pills.
“Walgreens plans to distribute mifepristone in all jurisdictions where permitted by law,” Engerman said. “Once we are FDA certified, we will be distributing this drug in accordance with federal and state laws. Providing legally approved medicines to patients is the mission of pharmacies and is rooted in our commitment to the communities in which we operate.”
Former Newsom chief of staff Ann O’Leary represented Walgreens in talks with the Newsom administration on the issue last month, Politico reported.
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