Gazette Daily News Briefing, November 13
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for November 13, 2023.
The week will start sunny and pleasant on Monday, with a high of 63 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area. The low will drop down to 35 degrees, with clear skies. The National Weather Service projects sunny skies and highs in the 60s for much of the rest of the week.
Pharmacies across Iowa have closed at an alarming rate over the past decade-plus, partly because insurance payouts don't cover drug costs.
Nearly 100 pharmacies across the state have shut their doors since 2008, according to research from a Drake University professor in a recent study.
And it’s still an issue. A survey last month conducted by the Iowa Pharmacy Association of its members found 40 percent of responding pharmacies expect to close within the next 12 months.
Pharmacists, lawmakers, policy experts and patient advocates say pharmacy benefit managers are largely to blame.
Pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, are third party companies that function as intermediaries between insurance providers and drug manufacturers.
Mike Deninger is a co-owner and pharmacist at Towncrest Pharmacy. The group collectively owns eight community pharmacies in Iowa City, Solon, Van Horne, Marengo, Belle Plaine and New Hampton.
Independent pharmacies like his rely on PBMs so that they can take various insurance plans, but those companies also decide how much money the pharmacists receive when reimbursing them.
“They will pay us whatever they feel like paying us, and it can change at any given time,” he said.
Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and colleagues this week introduced a bipartisan proposal that would tackle practices used by pharmacy benefit managers that drive up costs for prescription medications.
The bill would use a flat fee to compensate PBMs instead of pegging payments to a percentage of the cost of a drug.
A Cedar Rapids man has been charged with vehicular homicide and operating while intoxicated after his vehicle struck two pedestrians in the road Sunday, killing one and injuring the other.
Kyle Kubite, 45, of Cedar Rapids, was arrested Sunday and charged with the crimes after the pedestrians were struck in the 1400 block of Memorial Dr SE at roughly 4:45 p.m. Sunday
According to a media release from the Cedar Rapids Police Department, investigators determined Kubite was driving while intoxicated on Memorial Drive when he struck the two pedestrians, a man and a woman.
The woman was transported to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to the release. The man had non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to the hospital for treatment.
Police say the investigation is still underway but they are releasing no further information as of Sunday evening. The identities of the two pedestrians are being withheld while police investigate and family members can first be notified of the news.
