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Retirees urge Duplin County to rebid supplemental Medicare; critic says PBM Express Scripts prioritizes profits over patients
Summary
During public comment Dec. 1, retirees thanked commissioners for reversing a prior vendor decision and urged the county to rebid retiree supplemental Medicare coverage; a retiree alleged Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit manager, is not delivering rebates and prioritizes its own interests.
Several retirees and former employees used the public-comment period to press the board on retiree insurance and pharmacy benefit management.
Judy Brown (called by the clerk as "Judy Bryant") thanked the board for moving retirees away from Humana and back to their prior Medicare supplement arrangement. She asked the board to consider bidding retiree supplemental coverage next year so retirees and the county could compare plans and find better value.
A retired employee who identified himself as Woody Brinson said he retired in 2008 and criticized the decision to move retirees into Humana in a prior year. Brinson urged the board to better supervise the county's consultant and said the consultant repeatedly failed to answer employees' questions. He also criticized the pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts, saying the company "is not managing for our benefit" and is "more concerned about taking care of their interests." Brinson alleged Express Scripts has faced litigation and said he sees little evidence that promised rebates or refunds reach pharmacists, employees or the county.
Those remarks were delivered during the meeting's public-comment period; no board action on retiree coverage was taken at the Dec. 1 meeting. Commissioners and staff did not announce an immediate rebid but heard the comments and will address insurance procurement through the usual administrative processes.
