Illinois Pharmacy Company To Pay Out $100 Million To Settle Suit

Walgreens, which is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois operates almost 9,000 locations throughout the United States, and has over 12,000 locations around the world. For decades, they've been the big player that everyone else follows when it comes to pharmacies and ubiquitous corner stores.

However, sooner rather than later, 1,200 Walgreens locations around the country and including the state of Illinois, will be looking at being permanently closed. The announcement comes on the heels of news that Walgreens lost around $3 billion in the last quarter.

CBS News:

Another $3 billion in losses this quarter led to the announcement from Walgreens' CEO Tim Wentworth. "We have over 8,000 stores, of which the majority – approximately 6,000 – are profitable," he said.

Walgreens plans to close 1,200 stores over the next three years, prioritizing poor-performing stores, although the Deerfield-based company didn't say which ones. Wentworth said Walgreens plans to "redeploy" the majority of affected workers to other stores.

Now it appears as though you can add over $100 million to their $3 billion loss from the last quarter.

Overcharging Customers For Prescriptions Triggered The Class-Action Lawsuit Against Walgreens, And Now It Appears As Though A Settlement Has Been Reached

According to a report from Reuters, the accusation is that for a decade, Walgreens fraudulently overcharged their customers when the customers bought generic drugs through private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid:

Walgreens was accused of wrongly requiring insured customers to pay more than members of its Prescription Savings Club, who for a low annual fee, could buy more than 500 widely prescribed generic drugs for $5, $10 and $15 for 30-day prescriptions, and $10, $20 and $30 for 90-day prescriptions without using insurance.

On their website, the United States Department Of Justice (DOJ) says that between 2009 and 2020, Walgreens submitted false claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs for prescriptions that it processed but that were never picked up by beneficiaries. As a result, Walgreens received tens of millions of dollars for prescriptions that it never actually provided to health care beneficiaries.

Walgreens Will Be Paying Out Around $106 Million To Settle This Lawsuit, But That Money Won't Be Going To Customers As We've Seen Happen In The Past

The DOJ says that the federal share of the payout is $91,881,530, and a total of $14,933,259 will be returned to individual states, which jointly fund state Medicaid programs, through separate settlement agreements with the Medicaid participating states.

One of the things we've seen in the past that is happening with this Walgreens lawsuit settlement is that there will be no admission of guilt or liability from Walgreens.

Reuters:

"We admit no liability and believe these claims never had any merit," a Walgreens spokesperson said in a statement. "This resolution allows us to focus on our turnaround strategy that will benefit our patients, customers, team members and shareholders."

This is not the first, or the most expensive lawsuit settlement that Walgreens has been involved with: