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Local pharmacist: Affordable Care Act puts strain on business

ATLANTA — Independent pharmacist say, ever since the Affordable Care Act, the price of medication has started to climb and for many of them they can’t keep up.

Across the country independent pharmacist, especially in rural areas, are starting to go out of business.

For 33 years, Little Five Points pharmacy has been in operation. The owner, Ira Katz, says he’s still up and running, but sometimes it’s a struggle.

He said, "We have no way to fight that, we just have absolutely no way to challenge that."

Katz and other independent pharmacist say Pharmacy Benefit Managers are most often a third party administrator of prescription drug programs. They are primarily responsible for processing and paying prescription drug claims.

But independent pharmacists say they lose money on how the system reimburses them, forcing them to wait months before they can regain the costs of medication.

Katz said, "We just want to be able to play, be on a level playing field, and right now through these preferred networks, we're not able to play."

Independent pharmacists have now banded together and are pushing for lawmakers to pass legislation that will require payments to be updated more frequently to keep pace with actual market costs.

For more information: http://www.ncpanet.org/