California will continue to pay Walgreens for Medi-Cal prescriptions, despite a tweet in March from Gov. Gavin Newsom indicating that the state was done doing business with the pharmacy chain, Kaiser Health News reported April 6.
"California won't be doing business with @walgreens — or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women's lives at risk," Mr. Newsom said in a March 7 tweet. "We're done."
The tweet came after Walgreens announced in March that it would not distribute the abortion pill mifepristone in 21 states due to legal pressure from the states' attorneys general. Confusion from payers and patients ensued in the state after the governor's viral comment, CalMatters reported.
According to KHN, federal law requires states to allow Medicaid enrollees to access their prescriptions at any approved pharmacy, which includes Walgreens.
"California has no intention of taking any action that would violate federal Medicaid requirements, or that could undermine access for low-income individuals," a spokesperson for the California Department of Health Care Services told KHN.
KHN reported that California paid Walgreens $1.5 billion last year for its Medi-Cal program that covers 15 million people. The company is also allowed to apply for a specialty drug contract that Mr. Newsom originally did not renew.