According to a recent New York Times article, CVS Caremark agreed to pay $5 million to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that the company misrepresented the price of certain Medicare prescription drugs. This caused the affected consumers to pay significantly higher prices than advertised.
The FTC also investigated CVS on antitrust issues, but did not find any violations.
CVS Caremark stated that the settlement related only to the practices of its subsidiary, RxAmerica, which inadvertently posted inaccurate prices for certain generic drugs on a website maintained by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The company corrected the website upon learning of the problem. The $5 million settlement will be used to reimburse consumers for the price difference.
